Southern Cross is the sole wordless novel by Canadian artist Laurence
Hyde (1914–1987). Published in 1951, its 118 wood-engraved images
describe the effect of atomic testing on Polynesian islanders. Hyde
(pictured) made the book to express his anger at the US military's
nuclear tests in the Bikini Atoll. The story tells of the American
military evacuating villagers from a Polynesian island before testing
nuclear weapons. A drunken soldier attempts to rape a fisherman's wife
during the evacuation, and the fisherman kills him. Their child
witnesses the death of its parents and destruction of its environment
from the atomic tests. The wordless novel genre had flourished primarily
during the 1920s and 1930s, but by the 1940s even the most prolific
practitioners had abandoned it. Hyde was familiar with some such works
by Lynd Ward, Otto Nückel, and the form's pioneer Frans Masereel. The
high-contrast artwork of Southern Cross features dynamic curving lines
uncommon in wood engraving and combines abstract imagery with realistic
detail.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Cross_(wordless_novel)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1637:
Eighty Years' War: Off the coast of Cornwall, a Spanish fleet
intercepted an important Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels
escorted by 6 warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_off_Lizard_Point>
1766:
A mutiny by captive Malagasy began at sea on the slave ship
Meermin, leading to the ship's destruction on Cape Agulhas in present-
day South Africa and the recapture of the instigators.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meermin_slave_mutiny>
1957:
Kenyan independence leader Dedan Kimathi, who spearheaded the
Mau Mau Uprising, was executed by British authorities, who saw him as a
terrorist.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dedan_Kimathi>
1977:
NASA's first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, made its first "flight"
atop a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Enterprise>
2007:
Terrorist bombs exploded on the Samjhauta Express train in
Panipat, Haryana, India, killing 68 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Samjhauta_Express_bombings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
domable:
(obsolete, rare) Capable of being tamed; tameable, domesticable.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/domable>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We all know nations that can be identified by the flight of
writers from their shores. These are regimes whose fear of unmonitored
writing is justified because truth is trouble. It is trouble for the
warmonger, the torturer, the corporate thief, the political hack, the
corrupt justice system, and for a comatose public. Unpersecuted,
unjailed, unharrassed writers are trouble for the ignorant bully, the
sly racist, and the predators feeding off the world’s resources. The
alarm, the disquiet, writers raise is instructive because it is open and
vulnerable, because if unpoliced it is threatening. Therefore the
historical suppression of writers is the earliest harbinger of the
steady peeling away of additional rights and liberties that will follow.
--Toni Morrison
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Toni_Morrison>
Newton's parakeet (Psittacula exsul) is an extinct species of parrot
that was endemic to the Mascarene island of Rodrigues in the western
Indian Ocean. Several of its features diverged from related species,
indicating long-term isolation and adaptation on Rodrigues. Around 40
centimetres (16 in) long, Newton's parakeet was roughly the size of the
rose-ringed parakeet, a close relative and probable ancestor. Its
plumage was mostly greyish or slate blue, although most species in its
genus are green. Little is known about its behaviour; it may have fed on
nuts of the bois d'olive tree, along with leaves. It was very tame, and
was able to mimic speech. Newton's parakeet was first written about by
the French Huguenot François Leguat in 1708, and was mentioned only a
few times by other writers. The bird became scarce due to deforestation
and perhaps hunting, and was probably wiped out by a series of cyclones
and storms that hit Rodrigues in the late 19th century. Only two
specimens remain, both from the 1870s.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_parakeet>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1621:
Myles Standish was elected as the first commander of the
Plymouth Colony militia, a position he would hold for the rest of his
life.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myles_Standish>
1859:
The French Navy captured the Citadel of Saigon, a fortress that
was manned by 1,000 Nguyễn dynasty soldiers, en route to conquering
Saigon and other regions of southern Vietnam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citadel_of_Saigon>
1913:
In the U.S. National Guard's 69th Regiment Armory in New York
City, the Armory Show opened, introducing Americans to avant-garde and
modern art.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armory_Show>
1964:
Gabonese military officers overthrew President Léon M'ba, but
France, honoring a 1960 treaty, forcibly reinstated M'ba the next day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Gabon_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
2006:
A massive landslide (damage pictured) in the Philippine
province of Southern Leyte killed over 1,000 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Southern_Leyte_mudslide>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Sturm und Drang:
1. A proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music which occurred
from the late 1760s to the early 1780s, emphasizing individual
subjectivity and the free expression of emotions.
2. Turmoil; a period of emotional intensity and anxiety.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Sturm_und_Drang>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If all things are in common among friends, the most precious is
Wisdom. What can Juno give which thou canst not receive from Wisdom?
What mayest thou admire in Venus which thou mayest not also contemplate
in Wisdom? Her beauty is not small, for the lord of all things taketh
delight in her. Her I have loved and diligently sought from my youth up.
--Giordano Bruno
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno>
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward is an adventure video game developed
by Chunsoft. The second installment in the Zero Escape series, it was
first released on February 16, 2012, for the Nintendo 3DS and
PlayStation Vita. The story follows the player character Sigma, a man
who is abducted and forced along with eight other individuals to play
the life-or-death Nonary Game. The characters begin to unravel its
secrets and its true purpose. Virtue's Last Reward was developed as a
result of the unexpected critical success that its predecessor, Nine
Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, received in North America. Game
director Kotaro Uchikoshi wrote the script, which was localized for
North America by Aksys Games, and for Europe by Rising Star Games.
Although critics were divided in their opinions of the escape-the-room
sections, they gave Virtue's Last Reward positive reviews, especially
for its story and characters. Nevertheless, the game was a commercial
failure in Japan, which led to the temporary cancellation of its sequel.
Development eventually resumed, and Zero Time Dilemma was released in
2016.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Escape:_Virtue%27s_Last_Reward>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1270:
Livonian Crusade: In the Battle of Karuse, the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania achieved a decisive victory over the Livonian Order on the
frozen surface of the Baltic Sea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karuse>
1862:
American Civil War: Union victory in the Battle of Fort
Donelson gave General Ulysses S. Grant the nickname "Unconditional
Surrender".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Donelson>
1923:
Howard Carter, the English Egyptologist and archaeologist,
unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun (mask pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun>
1943:
Second World War: Norwegian commandos destroyed a factory to
prevent the German nuclear weapon project from acquiring heavy water.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_heavy_water_sabotage>
1961:
The DuSable Museum, the first museum dedicated to the study and
conservation of African American history, culture, and art, was
chartered.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuSable_Museum_of_African_American_History>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pro domino:
(law) In the capacity of a master or an owner; having dominion over a
person, property, or a right.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pro_domino>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Whenever you have a possibility of going in two ways, either for
peace or for war, for peaceful methods of for military methods, in the
present age there is a strong prejudice for the peaceful ones. War
seldom ever leads to good results.
--George F. Kennan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_F._Kennan>
Léal Souvenir is a 1432 oil-on-oak panel portrait by the Early
Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck. The panel was purchased in 1857 by
the National Gallery, London, where it is on permanent display. The
sitter has not been identified, but his individualistic features suggest
a historical person rather than the hypothetical ideal usual in
contemporary northern Renaissance portraiture. The portrait contains
three layers of painted inscriptions, each rendered to look as if
chiseled into stone. The first inscription is in a form of Greek and
seems to spell "TYΜ.ωΘΕΟC", which has not been satisfactorily
interpreted but has inspired some to title the work Timotheus. The
middle lettering reads in French Leal Souvenir ("Loyal Memory") and
indicates that the portrait is commemorative, completed after the man's
death. The third records van Eyck's signature and the date of execution.
The sitter's features have been described as "plain and rustic", yet he
is presented as thoughtful and inward-looking. Art historians have
detected mournfulness in his expression.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9al_Souvenir>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1823:
James McBrien made the first official discovery of gold in
Australia at Fish River in New South Wales.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_gold_rushes>
1898:
The United States Navy battleship USS Maine exploded and sank
in Havana, Cuba, killing more than 260 people and precipitating the
Spanish–American War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Maine_(ACR-1)>
1942:
Second World War: Japanese forces led by General Tomoyuki
Yamashita captured Singapore, the largest surrender of British-led
military personnel in history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Singapore>
1989:
The Soviet Union officially announced that all of its troops
had withdrawn from Afghanistan after a nine-year conflict.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War>
2013:
A previously undetected meteor exploded in mid-air over
Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, with the resulting shock wave injuring more
than 1,500 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dumpee:
(informal) One who is dumped (rejected romantically).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dumpee>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I guess my favorite thing in the world is when I look at a piece
of art, or read a story, or watch a movie where I walk away feeling like
"Oh my god — I have to do something, I have to make something or talk
to someone — things are not the same anymore" — and so I try to
make work where you come away with that feeling. It's like, yeah, you're
thinking about what you just saw, but even more than that — you feel
able, you feel like, kind of propelled.
--Miranda July
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miranda_July>
Epsilon Eridani is a star in the constellation of Eridanus. Viewable
from most of Earth's surface along a declination 9.46° south of the
celestial equator, it is 10.5 light-years away and has an apparent
magnitude of 3.73. It is the third-closest individual star or star
system visible to the unaided eye. Estimated at less than a billion
years old, the young star has a higher level of magnetic activity than
the present-day Sun, with a stellar wind 30 times as strong. Epsilon
Eridani is smaller and less massive than the Sun, with a greater
proportion of hydrogen and helium. It is a main-sequence star of
spectral class K2, which means that energy generated at the core through
nuclear fusion of hydrogen is emitted from the surface at a temperature
of about 5,000 K, giving it an orange hue. Observations for more than
twenty years have yielded evidence of a giant planet orbiting the star,
making it one of the nearest systems with a candidate exoplanet. The
detection of this planet, Epsilon Eridani b, was announced by Bruce
Campbell, Gordon Walker and Stephenson Yang in 1987.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsilon_Eridani>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1779:
English explorer James Cook was killed near Kealakekua when he
tried to kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruling chief of the Island of
Hawaii.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_Kalani%CA%BB%C5%8Dpu%CA%BBu_by_…>
1943:
World War II: General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim's 5th Panzer Army
launched a concerted attack against Allied positions in Tunisia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sidi_Bou_Zid>
1961:
Lawrencium, the metallic radioactive synthetic element with
atomic number 103, was first made at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrencium>
1979:
Adolph Dubs, United States Ambassador to Afghanistan, was
kidnapped by unknown agents and killed during a gun battle between
Afghan police and the perpetrators.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Dubs>
1989:
A fatwa was issued for the execution of Salman Rushdie for
authoring The Satanic Verses, a novel Islamic fundamentalists considered
blasphemous.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_controversy>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tachycardia:
A rapid resting heart rate, especially one above 100 beats per minute.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tachycardia>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Love is the mystery of divine revelations! Love is the effulgent
manifestation! Love is the spiritual fulfillment! Love is the breath of
the Holy Spirit inspired into the human spirit! Love is the cause of the
manifestation of the Truth (God) in the phenomenal world! Love is the
necessary tie proceeding from the realities of things through divine
creation! Love is the means of the most great happiness in both the
material and spiritual worlds! Love is a light of guidance in the dark
night! Love is the bond between the Creator and the creature in the
inner world! Love is the cause of development to every enlightened man!
Love is the greatest law in this vast universe of God! Love is the one
law which causeth and controleth order among the existing atoms! Love is
the universal magnetic power between the planets and stars shining in
the loft firmament! Love is the cause of unfoldment to a searching mind,
of the secrets deposited in the universe by the Infinite! Love is the
spirit of life in the bountiful body of the world! Love is the cause of
the civilization of nations in this mortal world! Love is the highest
honor to every righteous nation! The people who are confirmed therein
are indeed glorified by the Supreme Concourse, the angels of heaven and
the dwellers of the Kingdom of El-Abha!… O beloved of God! Be ye the
manifestations of God and the lamps of guidance throughout all regions
shining with the light of love and union! How beautiful the effulgence
of this light!
--`Abdu'l-Bahá
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/%60Abdu%27l-Bah%C3%A1>
Marvel Science Stories was a U.S. pulp magazine with fifteen issues in
two separate runs, both edited by Robert O. Erisman and published by
Abraham and Martin Goodman. The first issue, dated August 1938, carried
stories with more sexual content than was usual for the genre, including
several stories by Henry Kuttner. Reader reaction was generally
negative; one referred to Kuttner's story "The Time Trap" as "trash".
The magazine was cancelled after the April 1941 issue, but when a boom
in science fiction magazines began in 1950, the publishers revived it.
The first issue of the new series was dated November 1950; a further six
issues appeared, with the last dated May 1952. Contributors to the first
run included Arthur J. Burks and Jack Williamson; the second run
published stories by better-known writers, including Arthur C. Clarke,
Isaac Asimov, Jack Vance and L. Sprague de Camp. The second incarnation
of the magazine did not succeed in the more competitive market of the
1950s; even the writers who sold to Marvel Tales were publishing their
best work elsewhere.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Science_Stories>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1689:
Glorious Revolution: Mary Stuart and her husband William III of
Orange were proclaimed co-rulers of England and Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_III_of_England>
1867:
Work began on the covering of the Senne, burying the polluted
main waterway in Brussels to allow urban renewal in the centre of the
city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covering_of_the_Senne>
1913:
Thubten Gyatso, the 13th Dalai Lama, declared the independence
of Tibet from Qing China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Dalai_Lama>
1960:
African American college students staged the first of the
Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee, part
of a nonviolent direct action campaign to end racial segregation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville_sit-ins>
2012:
The first Vega rocket was launched by the European Space
Agency.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vega_(rocket)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
beloved:
Someone who is loved; something that is loved.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beloved>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it
is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox
in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or
force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.
--Robert H. Jackson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_H._Jackson>
Bobby Peel (12 February 1857 – 12 August 1941) was an English
professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire
between 1883 and 1897. Although an effective batsman, he was primarily a
left-arm spin bowler; when conditions favoured his bowling style, he was
a matchwinner. Between 1884 and 1896, Peel was regularly selected to
represent England, playing 20 Test matches in which he took 101 wickets;
in one such game, he bowled England to victory after they had followed
on in Australia in 1894–95. Peel began playing for Yorkshire in 1883
and was the team's main spinner by 1887; he regularly took over 100
wickets in a season, despite receiving little support from other
bowlers, and was among the leading batsmen for the county. As a player,
he was very popular but had a reputation for drinking heavily. In 1897
he was suspended for drunkenness during a match and never played for
Yorkshire again, although the events leading up to this are unclear.
Later stories, generally dismissed by historians, suggested he urinated
on the pitch. He continued to play and coach cricket for most of his
life. Among his other jobs, he became the landlord of a public house and
worked in a mill.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Peel>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1818:
On the first anniversary of its victory in the Battle of
Chacabuco, Chile formally declared its independence from Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilean_Declaration_of_Independence>
1912:
Xinhai Revolution: Puyi, the last Emperor of China, abdicated
under a deal brokered by military official and politician Yuan Shikai,
formally replacing the Qing dynasty with a new republic in China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puyi>
1947:
The French fashion company Christian Dior SE unveiled a "New
Look" that revolutionized women's dress and reestablished Paris as the
center of the fashion world after World War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Dior_SE>
1994:
Edvard Munch's iconic painting The Scream was stolen from the
National Gallery of Norway.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scream>
2001:
NASA's robotic space probe NEAR Shoemaker touched down on Eros,
becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/433_Eros>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
abderitism:
(philosophy) The theory that the human race's morality will never
advance beyond its present state.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abderitism>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Congratulations. You're alive. There's an unbroken thread that
stretches across more than three billion years that connects us to the
first life that ever touched this world. Think of how tough, resourceful
and lucky all of our countless ancestors must have been to survive long
enough to pass on the message of life to the next and the next and the
next generation, hundreds of millions of times before it came to us.
There were so many rivers to cross, so many hazards along the way.
Predators, starvation, disease, miscalculation, long winters, drought,
flood and violence. Not to mention the occasional upheavals that erupted
from within our planet and the apocalyptic bolts that come from the
blue. No matter where we hail from or who our parents were, we are
descended from the hearty survivors of unimaginable catastrophes. Each
of us is a runner in the longest and most dangerous relay race there
ever was, and at this moment, we hold the baton in our hands.
--Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cosmos:_A_Spacetime_Odyssey>
Kedok Ketawa (The Laughing Mask) is a 1940 action film from the Dutch
East Indies, in present-day Indonesia. After a young couple falls in
love, the title character, a vigilante, helps them fight off criminals
who have been sent to kidnap the woman by a rich man who wants her as
his wife. It was the first film of Union Films, one of four new
production houses established after the country's ailing film industry
was revived by the success of Albert Balink's Terang Boelan. Kedok
Ketawa was directed by Jo An Djan and stars Basoeki Resobowo, Fatimah,
Oedjang (as the vigilante), S Poniman and Eddy Kock. Featuring fighting,
comedy, and singing, and advertised as an "Indonesian cocktail of
violent actions ... and sweet romance", the film received positive
reviews, particularly for its cinematography. Following the success of
the film, Union produced another six before being shut down in early
1942 during the Japanese occupation. Screened until at least August
1944, the film may be lost.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedok_Ketawa>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
660 BC:
According to tradition, Emperor Jimmu (ukiyo-e depiction
pictured) founded Japan and established his capital in Yamato.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Jimmu>
1823:
About 100 boys were killed in a human crush at the Convent of
the Minori Osservanti on the last day of the Maltese Carnival in
Valletta, Malta.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_tragedy_of_1823>
1919:
Friedrich Ebert was elected the first President of the German
Weimar Republic by the Weimar National Assembly.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Ebert>
1938:
The BBC aired an adaptation of Karel Čapek's play R.U.R., the
first science fiction television programme ever broadcast.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.R.>
1968:
After two black employees were killed on the job, about 1,300
black sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S., began a strike
that lasted over two months.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_sanitation_strike>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
zaikai:
Collectively, the powerful and influential businesspeople and tycoons of
Japan.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zaikai>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A scientist's aim in a discussion with his colleagues is not to
persuade, but to clarify.
--Leó Szilárd
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Le%C3%B3_Szil%C3%A1rd>
The Olympic marmot (Marmota olympus) is a rodent in the squirrel family,
Sciuridae. It lives only in the U.S. state of Washington, at middle
elevations on the Olympic Peninsula. About the size of a domestic cat,
an adult weighs around 8 kg (18 lb) in summer. Its coat is brown all
over with small whiter areas for most of the year, although the color
changes with the season and with age. It has a wide head, small eyes and
ears, stubby legs, and a long, bushy tail. Its sharp, rounded claws aid
in digging burrows. It eats a variety of meadow flora, including the dry
grasses that it uses as bedding in burrows. Its main predator is the
coyote. Like its closest relatives, the hoary marmot and the Vancouver
Island marmot, it hibernates seven to eight months a year. It is not
endangered, and is protected by law in the Olympic National Park, which
contains most of its habitat. Olympic marmots are social animals; they
often engage in play fighting and use four different whistles to
communicate.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_marmot>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1840:
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha married Queen Victoria of
the United Kingdom at the Chapel Royal, becoming prince-consort.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert,_Prince_Consort>
1906:
The Royal Navy battleship HMS Dreadnought was launched,
representing such a marked advance in naval technology that her name
came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Dreadnought_(1906)>
1939:
Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists concluded their conquest of
Catalonia and sealed the border with France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalonia_Offensive>
1964:
The Royal Australian Navy aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne
collided with and sank the destroyer HMAS Voyager in Jervis Bay,
Australia, killing 82 of Voyager's personnel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne%E2%80%93Voyager_collision>
2009:
The first accidental hypervelocity collision between two intact
satellites in low Earth orbit took place when Iridium 33 and Kosmos-2251
collided and destroyed each other.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_satellite_collision>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
interrobang:
The nonstandard punctuation mark ‽ (a combination of ? and !), which
may be used at the end of a sentence to express excitement or disbelief,
or to indicate that it is a rhetorical question.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/interrobang>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I think that if the beast who sleeps in man could be held down by
threats — any kind of threat, whether of jail or of retribution after
death — then the highest emblem of humanity would be the lion tamer in
the circus with his whip, not the prophet who sacrificed himself. …
What has for centuries raised man above the beast is not the cudgel but
an inward music: the irresistible power of unarmed truth, the powerful
attraction of its example.
--Boris Pasternak
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Boris_Pasternak>
The USS Constellation captured the French L'Insurgente in a single-ship
action between the frigates on 9 February 1799. The previous year,
French privateering attacks against American vessels had led to the
undeclared Quasi-War. Four US naval squadrons were sent to the Caribbean
with orders to seize armed French vessels and prevent attacks on
American ships. The squadron under Commodore Thomas Truxtun was on
assignment in the waters between Puerto Rico and Saint Kitts when his
flagship Constellation, cruising independently, met and engaged
L'Insurgente, commanded by Michel-Pierre Barreaut. After chasing the
French ship through a storm, Truxtun forced an engagement. The French
frigate surrendered after 74 minutes with heavy casualties; the
Americans sustained only a few casualties. L'Insurgente was taken to
Saint Kitts and commissioned into the United States Navy as
USS Insurgent. The action was the first victory over an enemy warship
for the newly formed navy, and Truxtun was praised by the American
government and public.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constellation_vs_L%27Insurgente>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1825:
After no presidential candidate received a majority of
electoral votes, the United States House of Representatives elected John
Quincy Adams president.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams>
1913:
A group of meteors was visible across much of the eastern
seaboard of North and South America, leading astronomers to conclude
that the source had been a small, short-lived natural satellite of the
Earth.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1913_Great_Meteor_Procession>
1943:
World War II: Allied forces declared Guadalcanal secure, ending
the Guadalcanal Campaign as a significant strategic victory for Allied
forces fighting Japan in the Pacific War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guadalcanal_Campaign>
1969:
The Boeing 747 made its first flight, with test pilots Jack
Waddell and Brien Wygle at the controls and Jess Wallick at the flight
engineer's station.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747>
1996:
Breaking a seventeen-month ceasefire, the Provisional Irish
Republican Army detonated a powerful truck bomb in Canary Wharf, London,
killing 2 people and injuring more than 100 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Docklands_bombing>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
grand fromage:
(humorous) A big cheese; an important person.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grand_fromage>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Above all, do not lie to yourself. A man who lies to himself and
listens to his own lie comes to a point where he does not discern any
truth either in himself or anywhere around him, and thus falls into
disrespect towards himself and others. Not respecting anyone, he ceases
to love, and having no love, he gives himself up to passions and coarse
pleasures, in order to occupy and amuse himself, and in his vices
reaches complete bestiality, and it all comes from lying continually to
others and to himself. A man who lies to himself is often the first to
take offense. It sometimes feels very good to take offense, doesn’t
it? And surely he knows that no one has offended him, and that he
himself has invented the offense and told lies just for the beauty of
it, that he has exaggerated for the sake of effect, that he has picked
on a word and made a mountain out of a pea — he knows all of that, and
still he is the first to take offense, he likes feeling offended, it
gives him great pleasure, and thus he reaches the point of real
hostility…
--Fyodor Dostoevsky
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoevsky>