The Cincinnati Musical Center half dollar is a commemorative coin that
was authorized on March 31, 1936, and struck by the United States Bureau
of the Mint that year. Produced with the stated purpose of commemorating
the fiftieth anniversary of Cincinnati as a center of music, it was
conceived by Thomas G. Melish, a coin enthusiast whose group bought the
entire issue from the government, and who resold them at high prices.
Melish had hired sculptor Constance Ortmayer to design the coin, but the
Commission of Fine Arts objected to Stephen Foster being on the obverse,
finding no connection between Foster, who died in 1864, and the supposed
anniversary. Nevertheless, 5,000 sets of three coins, one from each of
the three mints, were issued and sold to Melish's group, the only
authorized purchaser. He likely held back much of the issue for later
resale, and with few pieces available, prices spiked to over five times
the issue price. The coins are still valuable today. Melish has been
assailed by numismatic writers as greedy.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Musical_Center_half_dollar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1492:
The Catholic Monarchs of Spain issued the Alhambra Decree,
ordering all Jews to convert to Christianity or be expelled from the
country.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra_Decree>
1889:
The Eiffel Tower was inaugurated in Paris, becoming a global
icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower>
1942:
Second World War: Because of a mutiny by Indian soldiers
against their British officers, Japanese troops captured Christmas
Island without any resistance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Christmas_Island>
1970:
Nine Japanese communists armed with samurai swords and pipe
bombs hijacked Japan Airlines Flight 351 on its way from from Tokyo to
Fukuoka.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines_Flight_351>
1992:
The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy
battleship, was decommissioned in Long Beach, California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Missouri_(BB-63)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
moly cow:
(chemistry, medicine, informal) A device used to extract from a source
of decaying molybdenum-99 the metastable isotope 99mTc of technetium,
which is the most commonly used medical radioisotope.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moly_cow>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Everything free and decent in life is being locked away in filthy
little cellars by beastly people who don’t care.
--John Fowles
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Fowles>
Juan Manuel de Rosas (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877) was an army
officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine
Confederation. Like other wealthy provincial warlords, Rosas enlisted
rural workers from his landholdings in a private militia, and took part
in the numerous disputes and civil wars in his country. He eventually
became the undisputed leader of the Argentine army and the Federalist
Party. In 1831, he signed the Federal Pact, recognizing provincial
autonomy and creating the Argentine Confederation. He established a
dictatorship and formed the repressive Mazorca, an armed parapolice that
killed thousands of citizens. By 1848, after a war against the
Peru–Bolivian Confederation, a blockade by France, and a revolt in his
own province, he ruled all of Argentina, and was attempting to annex the
neighboring nations of Uruguay and Paraguay. When the Empire of Brazil
came to Uruguay's aid, Rosas declared war in August 1851. The short
Platine War ended with the defeat of Rosas and his flight to Britain.
His last years were spent in exile living as a tenant farmer.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Manuel_de_Rosas>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1867:
U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the
purchase of Alaska for US$7.2 million from Russia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Purchase>
1899:
A committee of the German Society of Chemistry invited other
national scientific organizations to appoint delegates to form the
International Committee on Atomic Weights.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_on_Isotopic_Abundances_and_Atomic_…>
1918:
Fighting began during the March Days revolt in Baku,
Azerbaijan, resulting in up to 12,000 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_Days>
1950:
Usmar Ismail began filming Darah dan Doa, formally recognised
as the first Indonesian film.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darah_dan_Doa>
2009:
Twelve gunmen attacked the Manawan Police Academy in Lahore,
Pakistan, and held it for several hours before security forces could
retake it.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Lahore_police_academy_attacks>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
baked Alaska:
A dessert consisting of ice cream encased in cake and meringue and
briefly baked.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/baked_Alaska>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When I have a difficult subject before me — when I find the road
narrow, and can see no other way of teaching a well established truth
except by pleasing one intelligent man and displeasing ten thousand
fools — I prefer to address myself to the one man, and to take no
notice whatever of the condemnation of the multitude; I prefer to
extricate that intelligent man from his embarrassment and show him the
cause of his perplexity, so that he may attain perfection and be at
peace.
--Maimonides
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maimonides>
Boise National Forest is a federally protected area of the U.S. state of
Idaho in the national forest system. Created in 1908 from part of
Sawtooth National Forest, it is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The
Idaho Batholith underlies most of Boise National Forest, forming its
Boise, Salmon River, and West mountain ranges; the forest reaches a
maximum elevation of 9,730 feet (2,970 m) on Steel Mountain. Common
land cover includes sagebrush steppe and spruce-fir forests. It contains
75 percent of the known populations of Sacajawea's bitterroot, a
flowering plant endemic to Idaho. The Shoshone people occupied the
forest before European settlers, and archeological sites have been found
along rivers in the area. Trappers and fur traders of European descent
arrived in the area in the early 1800s, starting with John Jacob Astor's
Pacific Fur Company in 1811. The first settlers moved into the mountains
in the 1860s after gold was discovered. The gold rush forced many of the
Shoshone out and led to conflicts including the Bannock War in southern
Idaho. Tungsten, silver, antimony, and gold were mined in the forest
until the mid-twentieth century.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boise_National_Forest>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
845:
Viking raiders possibly led by the legendary Ragnar Lodbrok
captured Paris and held the city for a huge ransom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Paris_(845)>
1882:
The Knights of Columbus, the world's largest Catholic fraternal
service organization, was founded by Michael J. McGivney in New Haven,
Connecticut, U.S.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Columbus>
1942:
Second World War: The British Royal Air Force completed a
bombing raid of Lübeck, the first major success for RAF Bomber Command
against a German city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_L%C3%BCbeck_in_World_War_II>
1969:
The New People's Army (original flag pictured), the armed wing
of the Communist Party of the Philippines, was formed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_People%27s_Army>
1975:
Jeff Beck released Blow by Blow, his most successful album in
the U.S., reaching the top five and selling over one million copies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blow_by_Blow>
1999:
The strongest earthquake to hit the foothills of the Himalayas
in more than ninety years killed 103 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Chamoli_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fauxtatoes:
(plural only) A dish of mashed cauliflower used as an alternative to
potatoes by followers of a low-carbohydrate diet.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fauxtatoes>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You have to imagine a waiting that is not impatient because it is
timeless.
--R. S. Thomas
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._S._Thomas>
Mayabazar (Market of Illusions) is an Indian epic fantasy film directed
by Kadiri Venkata Reddy and produced by B. Nagi Reddy and Aluri
Chakrapani, first released on 27 March 1957. The film was shot in
Telugu and Tamil with the same title, but with a few differences in the
cast. The story is an adaptation of the folk tale Sasirekha Parinayam,
which in turn is based on the epic Mahabharata. It tells the story of
Krishna (N. T. Rama Rao) and Ghatotkacha (S. V. Ranga Rao), who try to
reunite Arjuna's son Abhimanyu with his love, Balarama's daughter
(Savitri). Though Rama Rao was initially reluctant to play the lead
role, his portrayal of Krishna received acclaim and yielded more offers
to reprise the same role in several unrelated films. Most of the musical
score was composed by Ghantasala. Both versions of the film were
critically and commercially successful. The film is considered a
landmark in both Telugu and Tamil cinema, with praise for its cast and
technical accomplishments, despite the limitations of the technology at
the time. A May 2013 CNN-News18 poll listed Mayabazar as the greatest
Indian film of all time.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayabazar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1836:
Texas Revolution: Mexican President Antonio López de Santa
Anna ordered the execution of about 400 Texian prisoners of war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliad_massacre>
1884:
Outraged by a jury's decision to convict a man of manslaughter
instead of murder, a mob in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S., began three days of
rioting.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_riots_of_1884>
1958:
First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Nikita Khrushchev also took over the role of Premier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev>
1977:
Two Boeing 747 airliners (one pictured) collided on a foggy
runway at Los Rodeos Airport on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing
583 people in the worst aircraft accident in aviation history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster>
2009:
A suicide bomber killed at least 48 people at a mosque in
Jamrud, in the Khyber Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
of Pakistan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Jamrud_mosque_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
begging the question:
A logical fallacy in which a premise of an argument contains a direct or
indirect assumption that the conclusion is true; offering a circular
argument; circular reasoning.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/begging_the_question>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
As long as one does not call his own position into question but
regards it as absolute, while interpreting his opponents' ideas as a
mere function of the social positions they occupy, the decisive step
forward has not yet been taken … the general form of the total
conception of ideology is being used by the analyst when he has the
courage to subject not just the adversary's point of view but all points
of view, including his own, to the ideological analysis.
--Karl Mannheim
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Mannheim>
Interstate 8 (I-8) is an Interstate Highway in the southwestern United
States. From the southern edge of Mission Bay in San Diego, California,
it runs eastward across the Cuyamaca Mountains and the Imperial Valley.
Crossing the Colorado River into Arizona, it continues through the city
of Yuma across the Sonoran Desert, to the junction with I-10, between
Phoenix and Tucson. The first route over the Cuyamaca Mountains was
dedicated in 1912, and a plank road served as the first road across the
Imperial Valley to Yuma; east of there, the Gila Trail continued east to
Gila Bend. Several controversies erupted during I-8's construction
process; questionable labor practices in Imperial County led to the
federal conviction of mobster Jimmy Fratianno, and the Arizona
government was found to have mismanaged financial resources by a U.S.
House of Representatives subcommittee. The route was completed in 1975
through California, and by 1977 through Arizona, though the bridge over
the Colorado River was not completed until 1978. A portion of the
freeway in Imperial County had to be rebuilt following damage by the
remnants of Hurricane Kathleen.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_8>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1169:
Saladin was inaugurated as vizier of Egypt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saladin>
1812:
The Boston Gazette printed a cartoon coining the term
"gerrymander", named after Governor Elbridge Gerry's approval of
legislation that created oddly shaped electoral districts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbridge_Gerry>
1917:
First World War: Attempting to advance into Palestine, the
British were defeated by Ottoman troops at the First Battle of Gaza.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Gaza>
1974:
A group of peasant women in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand,
India, used their bodies to surround trees in order to prevent loggers
from felling them, giving rise to the Chipko movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipko_movement>
2010:
An explosion allegedly caused by a North Korean torpedo sank
the South Korean warship ROKS Cheonan, killing 46 sailors.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROKS_Cheonan_sinking>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
steampunk:
1. (uncountable, neologism) A subgenre of speculative science fiction set
in an anachronistic 19th-century society.
2. (countable) A writer of steampunk fiction.
3. (countable, cosplay) A person cosplaying as a steampunk character.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/steampunk>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.
--Robert Frost
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Frost>
Jean Bellette (25 March 1908 – 16 March 1991) was an Australian
artist. Born in Tasmania, she was educated in Hobart and at Julian
Ashton's art school in Sydney, where her teachers included Thea Proctor.
In London she studied under painters Bernard Meninsky and Mark Gertler.
A modernist painter, Bellette was influential in mid-twentieth-century
Sydney art circles. She frequently painted scenes influenced by the
Greek tragedies of Euripedes, Sophocles and Homer. The only woman to win
the Sulman Prize more than once, Bellette claimed the accolade in 1942
with For Whom the Bell Tolls, and in 1944 with Iphigenia in Tauris. She
helped found the Blake Prize for religious art, and was its inaugural
judge. Bellette and her husband, the artist and critic Paul Haefliger,
owned a cottage in Hill End, an old gold mining village in central New
South Wales. Bellette bequeathed the cottage to the National Parks and
Wildlife Service (which manages the Hill End historic site) for use as
an artists' retreat. It continues to operate for that purpose.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Bellette>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
708:
Pope Constantine was selected as one of the last popes of the
Byzantine Papacy; he would be the last pope to visit Constantinople
until Pope Paul VI in 1967.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Constantine>
1655:
Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovered Titan, the
largest natural satellite of the planet Saturn.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_(moon)>
1917:
Following the overthrow of the Russian tsar Nicholas II,
Georgia's bishops unilaterally restored the autocephaly of the Georgian
Orthodox Church.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_Orthodox_Church>
1949:
The Soviet Union began mass deportations of more than 90,000
people from the Baltic states to Siberia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Priboi>
1971:
Vietnam War: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam abandoned an
attempt to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Lam_Son_719>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
armatole:
(historical) A Greek armed mercenary who enforced Ottoman rule in Greece
from the 15th century onwards; during the Greek War of Independence
(1821–1832), many armatoloi became pro-independence guerrilla fighters
opposed to Ottoman rule.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/armatole>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Democracy says that the popular vote can take right away and once
taken away the act is sanctioned and upheld by all laws, human and
divine. I deny it. I say it is a wrong, however it is perpetuated. Why,
mothers. What do you care how you are robbed of your babe? The question
is not how it is done, the outrage is that it is done at all. No matter
whether it is done by an individual or a conspiracy of many individuals
in a community agreeing and concerting according to the forms of law. If
the poor babe is torn from your heart, that is the unspeakable wrong.
Not the manner in which it is perpetrated.
--Owen Lovejoy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Owen_Lovejoy>
The Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, is a concerto by Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart for keyboard (period fortepiano pictured) and orchestra.
He composed it in the winter of 1785–86 and completed it on 24 March
1786. He played the solo part in the premiere in early April that year
at the Burgtheater in Vienna. The work is one of only two minor-key
piano concertos by Mozart, the other being No. 20 in D Minor. It
features the largest array of instruments of any Mozart concerto:
strings, woodwinds including oboes and clarinets, horns, trumpets and
timpani. The concerto consists of three movements. The first, Allegro,
is in sonata form and is longer than any opening movement of Mozart's
earlier concertos. The second movement, Larghetto, features a strikingly
simple principal theme, and the final Allegretto presents a theme
followed by eight variations. The work is one of Mozart's most advanced
compositions in the concerto genre. Early admirers included Ludwig van
Beethoven and Johannes Brahms. The musicologist Arthur Hutchings
considered it to be Mozart's greatest piano concerto.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No._24_(Mozart)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1860:
Rōnin samurai of the Mito Domain assassinated Japanese Chief
Minister Ii Naosuke, upset with his role in the opening of Japan to
foreign powers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakuradamon_Incident_(1860)>
1882:
German physician Robert Koch announced the discovery of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a bacterium that causes tuberculosis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuberculosis>
1934:
The Tydings–McDuffie Act came into effect, which provided for
self-government of the Philippines and for Filipino independence from
the United States after a period of ten years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tydings%E2%80%93McDuffie_Act>
1989:
The tanker Exxon Valdez spilled 10.8 million US gallons
(260,000 bbl; 41,000 m3) of oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska,
causing one of the most devastating man-made maritime environmental
disasters.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill>
2008:
The Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party, led by Jigme Thinley,
won 45 out of 47 seats in the National Assembly of Bhutan in the
country's first-ever general election.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutanese_National_Assembly_election,_2008>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
rhematic:
1. Of or pertaining to a rheme.
2. (linguistics) Of a part of a sentence: providing new information
regarding the current theme.
3. (Peircean semiotics) Of or pertaining to a sumisign (a sign that
represents its object in respect of quality and so, in its signified
interpretant, is represented as a character or mark).
4. (obsolete) Of or pertaining to word formation.
5. (obsolete, rare) In Coleridge's work: relating to the arrangement of
words into sentences clearly.
6. (grammar, obsolete, rare) Having a verb for its base; derived from a
verb.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rhematic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Fascist rebelliousness always occurs where fear of the truth turns
a revolutionary emotion into illusions. In its pure form, fascism is the
sum total of all irrational reactions of the average human character. To
the narrow-minded sociologist who lacks the courage to recognize the
enormous role played by the irrational in human history, the fascist
race theory appears as nothing but an imperialistic interest or even a
mere "prejudice." The violence and the ubiquity of these "race
prejudices" show their origin from the irrational part of the human
character. The race theory is not a creation of fascism. No: fascism is
a creation of race hatred and its politically organized expression.
--Wilhelm Reich
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich>
The Oran fatwa was an Islamic legal opinion issued in 1504 to address
the forced conversion to Christianity of Muslims in the Crown of Castile
in Iberia in 1500–1502. The fatwa sets out detailed relaxations of the
sharia (Islamic law) requirements, allowing the Muslims to conform
outwardly to Christianity and perform acts that are ordinarily forbidden
in Islamic law, when necessary to survive. It includes relaxed
instructions to fulfill the ritual prayers, charity and purification,
and recommendations for how to handle obligations that violated Islamic
law, such as worshipping as Christians, performing blasphemy, and
consuming pork and wine. The fatwa enjoyed wide currency in Spain among
Muslims and Moriscos – Muslims nominally converted to Christianity
and their descendants – from the time of the first forced conversions
up to the expulsion of the Moriscos (1609–1614). The author of the
fatwa was Ahmad ibn Abi Jum'ah, a North African Islamic law scholar
(mufti) of the Maliki school.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oran_fatwa>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1400:
After 175 years of rule, the Trần dynasty of Vietnam was
deposed by Hồ Quý Ly, a court official.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%E1%BA%A7n_dynasty>
1889:
Mirza Ghulam Ahmad founded the Ahmadiyya Islamic religious
movement in British India.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadiyya>
1905:
About 1,500 Cretans, led by Eleftherios Venizelos, met at the
village of Theriso to call for the island's unification with Greece,
beginning the Theriso revolt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theriso_revolt>
1989:
Two researchers announced the discovery of cold fusion, a claim
which was later discredited.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_fusion>
2007:
Iranian military personnel seized 15 British Royal Navy
personnel, claiming that they had entered Iranian waters.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Iranian_seizure_of_Royal_Navy_personnel>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
uptalk:
(linguistics, intransitive) To speak with a rising intonation at the end
of a sentence, as if it were a question; to upspeak.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/uptalk>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty
is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.
--Erich Fromm
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erich_Fromm>
SMS Kaiser was the lead ship of her class of battleships of the Imperial
German Navy. The ship was built by the Imperial Dockyard at Kiel,
launched on 22 March 1911, and commissioned in August 1912 with ten
30.5-centimeter (12.0 in) guns and a top speed of 23.4 knots
(43.3 km/h; 26.9 mph). Kaiser was assigned to the Third Squadron of
the High Seas Fleet for the majority of World War I. The ship
participated in most of the major fleet operations of the war, including
the Battle of Jutland on 31 May – 1 June 1916, where she was hit
once, suffering negligible damage. The ship was also present during
Operation Albion in the Baltic Sea in September and October 1917, and at
the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in November 1917. After the war
she was interned with other ships of the High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow
in Scotland. In June 1919 the commander of the interned fleet, Rear
Admiral Ludwig von Reuter, ordered the fleet to be scuttled to ensure
that the British would not be able to seize the ships. Kaiser's wreck
was raised in 1929 and broken up in Rosyth in 1930.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Kaiser_(1911)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
238:
Because of his father's advanced age, Gordian II was proclaimed
joint Roman emperor with Gordian I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_I>
1784:
The Emerald Buddha was installed in its current location at the
Wat Phra Kaew on the grounds of the Grand Palace in Bangkok.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Buddha>
1933:
The Holocaust: Construction of the first Nazi concentration
camp at Dachau was completed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachau_concentration_camp>
1942:
Second World War: The Royal Navy confronted Italy's Regia
Marina at the Second Battle of Sirte in the Mediterranean Sea near the
Gulf of Sirte.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Sirte>
1992:
USAir Flight 405 crashed shortly after liftoff from New York
City's LaGuardia Airport, leading to a number of studies into the effect
that ice has on aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USAir_Flight_405>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hydronym:
(onomastics) The name of a river, lake, sea or any other body of water.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hydronym>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Do not let yourself be bothered by the inconsequential. One has
only so much time in this world, so devote it to the work and the people
most important to you, to those you love and things that matter. One can
waste half a lifetime with people one doesn't really like, or doing
things when one would be better off somewhere else.
--Louis L'Amour
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louis_L%27Amour>
Neal Dow (March 20, 1804 – October 2, 1897) was an American
prohibition advocate and politician. He was elected president of the
Maine Temperance Union in 1850, and mayor of Portland the next year.
Soon after, largely due to his efforts, the state legislature banned the
sale and production of alcohol in what became known as the Maine Law. As
mayor, Dow enforced the law with vigor and called for increasingly harsh
penalties for violators. In 1855, his opponents rioted and he ordered
the state militia to fire on the crowd. One man was killed and several
were wounded. After public reaction to the violence turned against him,
he chose not to run again for mayor. He was later elected to two terms
in the state legislature, but retired after a financial scandal. He
joined the Union Army shortly after the outbreak of the American Civil
War in 1861 and became a brigadier general. He was wounded at the siege
of Port Hudson and later captured. After being exchanged for another
officer in 1864, Dow resigned from the military and devoted himself once
more to prohibition. In 1880, he headed the Prohibition Party ticket for
President of the United States.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Dow>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1556:
Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, one of the founders of
Anglicanism, was burnt at the stake in Oxford, England, for heresy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cranmer>
1937:
The Papal encyclical Mit brennender Sorge, condemning
antisemitism and criticizing Nazism, was read from the pulpits of all
German Catholic churches.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mit_brennender_Sorge>
1963:
Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San
Francisco Bay, California—one of the world's most notorious and best
known prisons—was closed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatraz_Federal_Penitentiary>
1968:
War of Attrition: The Israel Defense Forces clashed with the
combined forces of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Royal
Jordanian Army in the Battle of Karameh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karameh>
1980:
Dallas aired its "A House Divided" episode which led to eight
months of international speculation regarding "Who shot J.R.?"
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_House_Divided_(Dallas)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
greenwood:
1. A forest in full leaf, as in summer.
2. Wood that is green; in other words, not seasoned.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/greenwood>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Art is something absolute, something positive, which gives power
just as food gives power. While creative science is a mental food, art
is the satisfaction of the soul.
--Hans Hofmann
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hans_Hofmann>