The mangrove swallow (Tachycineta albilinea) is a bird in the swallow
family that breeds in coastal regions of Mexico and Central America. It
is a seasonal breeder and is territorial when breeding, much like the
related tree swallow. Its nests are frequently found near water, no more
than 2 metres (7 ft) above the ground. It usually forages close to the
nest when feeding its chicks, but will go much further when foraging for
itself. In between foraging attempts, it perches near water. It subsists
primarily on a diet of flying insects, including dragonflies and bees,
unusually large prey for a bird of its size. It has blue-green
upperparts, white underparts, a white streak above the eye, and blackish
flight and tail feathers. This swallow's song is a soft trilling, with a
rolled jeerrt call, and a sharp alarm note. With a slowly decreasing
population of at least 500,000 individuals, the mangrove swallow is
classified as a species of least concern by the International Union for
Conservation of Nature.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangrove_swallow>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1876:
Alexander Graham Bell made his first successful bi-directional
telephone call, saying, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_telephone>
1915:
First World War: The Battle of Neuve Chapelle opened, the first
deliberately planned British offensive of the war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Neuve_Chapelle>
1952:
Facing likely electoral defeat, former Cuban President
Fulgencio Batista staged a coup d'état to resume control.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista>
1977:
Astronomers using NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory discovered
a faint planetary ring system (false-color image pictured) around
Uranus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Uranus>
2005:
Tung Chee-hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong,
announced his resignation following widespread dissatisfaction with his
leadership.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tung_Chee-hwa>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
radish:
1. A plant of the Brassicaceae family, Raphanus sativus or Raphanus
raphanistrum subsp. sativus, having an edible root.
2. The root of this plant used as food. Some varieties are pungent and
usually eaten raw in salads, etc., while others have a milder taste and
are cooked.
3. With a distinguishing word: some other plant of the Raphanus genus or
Brassicaceae family.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/radish>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If there is an invisible church, then it is of the great paradox,
which is inseparable from morality, and which must be distinguished from
the merely philosophical. People who are so eccentric that they are
completely serious in being and becoming virtuous understand one another
in everything, find one another easily, and form a silent opposition
against the prevailing immorality that pretends to be morality. A
certain mysticism of expression, which joined with romantic fantasy and
grammatical understanding, can be something charming and good, often
serves as a symbol of their beautiful secrets.
--Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Schlegel>
"Mothers of the Disappeared" is a song by the rock band U2, the closing
track on their album The Joshua Tree, released on 9 March 1987. The song
was inspired by lead singer Bono's experiences in Nicaragua and El
Salvador in July 1986, following U2's involvement on Amnesty
International's A Conspiracy of Hope tour. He learned of the Madres de
Plaza de Mayo, a group of women whose children had been abducted with
the consent of Argentine and Chilean dictatorships. Thematically the
song has been interpreted as an examination of failures and
contradictions in US foreign policy and as a criticism of the Reagan
Administration, which backed two South American regimes that seized
power during coups and which provided financial support for the military
regime in El Salvador. The song was favourably received by critics, and
has been performed live on several tours, starting with the 1987 Joshua
Tree Tour. It was played at four concerts on the 1998 PopMart Tour in
South America; during two of these, the Madres joined the band onstage
(pictured).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothers_of_the_Disappeared>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1009:
The first known record of the name of Lithuania appeared in an
entry in the annals of the Quedlinburg Abbey in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Lithuania>
1862:
American Civil War: In the world's first major battle between
two powered ironclad warships (painting pictured), the USS Monitor and
the CSS Virginia, fought to a draw near the mouth of Hampton Roads in
Virginia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hampton_Roads>
1932:
Éamon de Valera, one of the dominant political figures in
twentieth-century Ireland, became President of the Executive Council of
the Irish Free State.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89amon_de_Valera>
1945:
World War II: Imperial Japanese Army officers ousted the
government of French Indochina.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat_in_French_Indochi…>
1977:
Twelve gunmen seized three buildings in Washington, D.C., and
took 149 hostages in a 39-hour standoff that ended in two deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Hanafi_Siege>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
blip:
1. (electronics) A small dot registered on electronic equipment, such as a
radar or oscilloscope screen.
2. A short sound of a single pitch, usually electronically generated.
3. (by extension) A brief and usually minor aberration or deviation from
what is expected or normal.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blip>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There isn't a coliseum any more, but the city is a bigger bowl,
and it seats more people. The razor-sharp claws aren't those of wild
animals but man's can be just as sharp and twice as vicious. You have to
be quick, and you have to be able, or you become one of the devoured,
and if you can kill first, no matter how and no matter who, you can live
and return to the comfortable chair and the comfortable fire. But you
have to be quick. And able. Or you'll be dead.
--Mickey Spillane
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mickey_Spillane>
Bessie Braddock (1899–1970) was a British Labour Party politician who
served as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Liverpool Exchange division
from 1945 to 1970. She was a member of Liverpool County Borough Council
from 1930 to 1961. Although she never held office in government, she won
a national reputation for her campaigns in connection with housing,
public health and other social issues. Braddock supported the 1945–51
Attlee ministry's reform agenda, particularly the establishment of the
National Health Service in 1948. She served on Labour's National
Executive Committee between 1947 and 1969. For most of her parliamentary
career she was a member of Liverpool's council, and was a central figure
in a controversy in the 1950s over the city's flooding of the Tryweryn
Valley to construct a reservoir. When Labour won the 1964 general
election she refused office on the grounds of age and health; thereafter
her parliamentary contributions dwindled as her health worsened. Towards
the end of her life she became Liverpool's first woman freeman. Her
Guardian obituarist hailed her as "one of the most distinctive political
personalities of the century".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Braddock>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1576:
A letter to King Philip II of Spain contained the first
European mention of the Mayan ruins of Copán in modern Honduras.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cop%C3%A1n>
1702:
Princess Anne of Denmark and Norway became the Queen of
England, Scotland and Ireland, succeeding William III.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne,_Queen_of_Great_Britain>
1919:
During the Egyptian revolution of 1919, British authorities
arrested Saad Zaghloul and two others, exiling them to Malta.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_revolution_of_1919>
1966:
Nelson's Pillar, a large granite pillar with a statue of Lord
Nelson on top in Dublin, Ireland, was severely damaged by a bomb.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson%27s_Pillar>
1978:
BBC Radio 4 began transmitting Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy, a science fiction radio series that was later
adapted into novels, a television series, and other media formats.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_(radio…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
intersectionality:
A feminist sociological methodology of studying overlapping or
intersecting social identities and related systems of oppression,
domination, or discrimination.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intersectionality>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The computer and its information cannot answer any of the
fundamental questions we need to address to make our lives more
meaningful and humane. The computer cannot provide an organizing moral
framework. It cannot tell us what questions are worth asking. It cannot
provide a means of understanding why we are here or why we fight each
other or why decency eludes us so often, especially when we need it the
most. The computer is... a magnificent toy that distracts us from facing
what we most need to confront — spiritual emptiness, knowledge of
ourselves, usable conceptions of the past and future.
--Neil Postman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Postman>
SMS Nassau was the first dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial
German Navy, in response to the launching of the British battleship
HMS Dreadnought. Nassau was laid down in 1907 at the Imperial Shipyard
in Wilhelmshaven and launched on 7 March 1908. Three more battleships
followed in the same class: Posen, Rheinland, and Westfalen. Assigned to
the First Battle Squadron of the German High Seas Fleet, Nassau saw
service in the North Sea in the beginning of World War I. In August 1915
the ship engaged the Russian battleship Slava in the Battle of the Gulf
of Riga in the eastern Baltic Sea. Nassau took part in the Battle of
Jutland on 31 May and 1 June 1916, suffering a total of 11 killed and
16 injured. After World War I, the bulk of the High Seas Fleet was
interned in Scapa Flow, but the Nassau-class ships, the oldest German
dreadnoughts, were initially permitted to remain in German ports. After
the German fleet was scuttled, Nassau and her sister ships were
surrendered to the victorious powers as replacements for the sunken
ships. Nassau was ceded to Japan, then sold to a British wrecking firm
for scrapping.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Nassau>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1573:
A peace treaty brought the Ottoman–Venetian War to an end,
transferring Cyprus from Venetian hands to Ottoman control.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman%E2%80%93Venetian_War_(1570%E2%80%9315…>
1862:
American Civil War: Union forces engaged Confederate troops in
Pea Ridge, Arkansas, fighting to a victory one day later that
essentially cemented their control in Missouri.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pea_Ridge>
1871:
José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco, became Prime Minister
of the Empire of Brazil, starting a four-year rule, the longest in the
state's history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Paranhos,_Viscount_of_Rio_Branco>
1945:
World War II: At the beginning of the Battle of Remagen, Allied
forces unexpectedly seized the Ludendorff Bridge, possibly hastening the
war's conclusion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Remagen>
1985:
The charity single "We Are the World" by the supergroup United
Support of Artists for Africa was released, and would go on to sell more
than 20 million copies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_the_World>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
soul-searching:
Probing introspection; a critical consideration of one's conscience;
also, an instance of such consideration.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/soul-searching>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but when separated
from law and justice, he is the worst of all.
--Aristotle
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aristotle>
"Death on the Rock" was a 1988 British television documentary produced
by Thames Television as part of the current affairs series This Week on
ITV. It examined the shooting deaths of three Provisional Irish
Republican Army (IRA) members by the British Special Air Service in
Gibraltar on 6 March 1988. The series' editor, Roger Bolton, had
dispatched journalists to Gibraltar and Spain to interview witnesses to
the shootings and Spanish police officers who had surveilled the IRA
team. The documentary presented evidence that the team were unarmed, and
shot without warning or while attempting to surrender. The British
government denounced the programme, and Geoffrey Howe, the foreign
secretary, attemped to get the broadcast postponed by the Independent
Broadcasting Authority. An independent inquiry, the Windlesham–Rampton
report, found that the documentary was made in "good faith and without
ulterior motives". It was praised within the television industry and won
that year's BAFTA Award for Best Documentary.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_on_the_Rock>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1665:
The first joint Secretary of the Royal Society, Henry
Oldenburg, published the first issue of Philosophical Transactions of
the Royal Society, the world's longest-running scientific journal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Transactions_of_the_Royal_Socie…>
1836:
Texas Revolution: Mexican forces captured the Alamo in San
Antonio from the Texans after a 13-day siege.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Alamo>
1869:
Dmitri Mendeleev presented the first periodic table of elements
to the Russian Chemical Society.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Mendeleev>
1902:
Real Madrid, one of the world's richest football clubs, was
founded as Madrid Football Club.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Madrid_C.F.>
1967:
Joseph Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva defected to the
United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svetlana_Alliluyeva>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
preprandial:
Of, relating to or occurring during the time before dinner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/preprandial>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If you say that there are elephants flying in the sky, people are
not going to believe you. But if you say that there are four hundred and
twenty-five elephants flying in the sky, people will probably believe
you.
--Gabriel García Márquez
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gabriel_Garc%C3%ADa_M%C3%A1rquez>
Myotis alcathoe, the Alcathoe bat, is a small European bat. First
described in 2001 from specimens taken from Greece and Hungary, its
known distribution has expanded to include parts of Western and Central
Europe, Spain, Italy, the Balkans, Sweden, and Azerbaijan. It is similar
to the whiskered bat (M. mystacinus), but its brown fur is distinctive,
and DNA sequencing has shown it to be a separate species. M. alcathoe
has a forearm length of 30.8 to 34.6 mm (1.21 to 1.36 in) and a body
mass of 3.5 to 5.5 g (0.12 to 0.19 oz). The fur is brown on the wings,
usually reddish-brown on the upperparts, and brown below, but more
grayish in juveniles. It has a very high-pitched echolocation call, with
a frequency that falls from 120 kHz to about 43 kHz at the end of the
call. Usually found in old-growth deciduous forest near water, it
forages high in the canopy and above water, mostly for flies. It roosts
in cavities high in trees. The species is considered at risk in
Catalonia, Germany and parts of Switzerland due to its rarity and
vulnerability to habitat loss.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myotis_alcathoe>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1496:
King Henry VII of England issued letters patent to John Cabot
and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cabot>
1770:
British soldiers fired into a crowd in Boston, Massachusetts,
killing five civilians (engraving pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre>
1943:
The Gloster Meteor, the first operational jet fighter for the
Allied Powers, made its maiden flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloster_Meteor>
1960:
Cuban photographer Alberto Korda took his iconic photograph of
Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrillero_Heroico>
1999:
Paul Okalik was elected as the first premier of the Canadian
territory of Nunavut.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Okalik>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
firebase:
(military) An encampment designed to provide indirect artillery support
to infantry troops operating beyond the normal range of fire support
from their own base camps; a fire support base.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/firebase>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I can read ideas from all different people from all different
cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning
where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really
communicate. I don't travel in circles where people say, "I have faith,
I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my
faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up," or
another two words that the FCC likes less.
--Penn Jillette
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Penn_Jillette>
Sabrina Sidney (1757–1843) was a British foundling girl taken in when
she was 12 by the author Thomas Day, who wanted to mould her into his
perfect wife. As an adult she worked with the schoolmaster Charles
Burney, managing his schools. In 1769 Day took Sabrina to France to
begin methods of education inspired by Rousseau's Emile, or On
Education. When she reached her teenage years, Day's friend Richard
Lovell Edgeworth persuaded him that his ideal-wife experiment had
failed. In 1783 Sabrina was told the truth about Day's experiment and
confronted him in a series of letters. In 1804, Anna Seward published a
book about Sabrina's upbringing. In his 1820 memoirs, Edgeworth said
that Sabrina and Day made a good match and that she loved him. Sabrina
countered that Day had made her miserable, and that she had effectively
been a slave. The story of Sabrina's life has been told in Wendy Moore's
2013 book How to Create the Perfect Wife and dramatised in the 2015 BBC
Radio 4 play The Imperfect Education of Sabrina Sidney.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabrina_Sidney>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1386:
Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila was crowned Władysław II
Jagiełło, King of Poland, beginning the Jagiellonian dynasty.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_II_Jagie%C5%82%C5%82o>
1890:
The Forth Bridge, a railway bridge connecting Edinburgh to Fife
over the Firth of Forth, opened, becoming an internationally recognised
Scottish landmark.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_Bridge>
1918:
The first known case of the so-called Spanish flu was first
observed at Fort Riley, Kansas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic>
1987:
US President Ronald Reagan made a nationally televised address
in which he accepted full responsibility for illegal actions in the
Iran–Contra affair.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair>
2007:
Fourteen-year-old English schoolgirl Charlotte Shaw drowned on
Dartmoor, becoming the first person to die in connection with the annual
Ten Tors challenge.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Charlotte_Shaw>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
swatch:
1. A piece, pattern, or sample, generally of cloth or a similar material.
2. (figuratively) A clump or portion of something.
3. (figuratively) A demonstration, an example, a proof.
4. (Northern England, obsolete) A tag or other small object attached to
another item as a means of identifying its owner; a tally; specifically
the counterfoil of a tally.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/swatch>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Life is a creative endeavor. It is active, not passive. We are the
yeast that leavens our lives into rich, fully baked loaves. When we
experience our lives as flat and lackluster, it is our consciousness
that is at fault. We hold the inner key that turns our lives from
thankless to fruitful. That key is "Blessing."
--Julia Cameron
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julia_Cameron>
Ian O'Brien (born 3 March 1947) is a former breaststroke swimmer for
Australia who won the 200 metre breaststroke at the 1964 Summer
Olympics in Tokyo in world record time. In 1962 at the age of 15 he
competed in his first national championships, winning the 220 yard
breaststroke. At the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in
Perth, Western Australia, he won both the 110 and 220 yd breaststroke
and the 4 × 110 yd medley relay. He won both breaststroke events at
the 1963 Australian Championships, repeating the feat for the next three
years. After winning his gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, he added a
bronze in the medley relay. O'Brien successfully defended both his
breaststroke titles at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in
Kingston, Jamaica. He won five Commonwealth Games gold medals and
claimed a total of nine individual and six relay titles at the
Australian Championships. He retired from the sport at the age of 21,
worked for 10 years as a television stagehand, and later launched a
company that produced television documentaries. In 1986 he was inducted
into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_O%27Brien>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1861:
The Emancipation Manifesto of Tsar Alexander II was proclaimed,
abolishing serfdom in Imperial Russia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_reform_of_1861>
1875:
The first indoor game of ice hockey was played at the Victoria
Skating Rink in Montreal by James Creighton and McGill University
students.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_indoor_hockey_game>
1913:
Thousands of women marched in Washington, D.C. (program
pictured) "in a spirit of protest" against the exclusion of women from
American society.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman_suffrage_parade_of_1913>
1943:
Second World War: During a German aerial attack on London, 173
people were killed in a stampede while trying to enter Bethnal Green
tube station, which was being used as an air-raid shelter.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethnal_Green_tube_station>
1972:
Jethro Tull released Thick as a Brick, a concept album
supposedly written by an 8-year-old boy, Gerald Bostock.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thick_as_a_Brick>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Rhodanian:
Of, or aboriginal to, the Rhône valley.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Rhodanian>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I did not hate the author of my misfortunes — truth and justice
acquit me of that; I rather pitied the hard destiny to which he seemed
condemned. But I thought with unspeakable loathing of those errors, in
consequence of which every man is fated to be, more or less, the tyrant
or the slave. I was astonished at the folly of my species, that they did
not rise up as one man, and shake off chains so ignominious, and misery
so insupportable. So far as related to myself, I resolved — and this
resolution has never been entirety forgotten by me — to hold myself
disengaged from this odious scene, and never fill the part either of the
oppressor or the sufferer.
--William Godwin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Godwin>
Burning Rangers is a 1998 3D action video game developed by Sonic Team
and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn. The game is set in a
futuristic society threatened by frequent fires. Players control one of
an elite group of firefighters, the Burning Rangers, who extinguish the
fires and rescue civilians from burning buildings. Most of the tasks the
players complete are centred around collecting energy crystals used to
transport civilians to safety. Development began shortly after the
release of Christmas Nights in November 1996, when Yuji Naka started
working on a game focused on saving people rather than killing them.
Sonic Team chose the themes of firefighting and heroism. Burning Rangers
received mostly positive reviews, especially for the game's soundtrack
and audio. Responses to the graphics were mixed; while some critics
asserted that the game had the best visuals on the Saturn, others
faulted its poor collision detection and occasional glitching. The game
was among the final five Saturn titles released in America.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Rangers>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1484:
The College of Arms, one of the few remaining official heraldic
authorities in Europe, was established by royal charter in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_of_Arms>
1825:
Roberto Cofresí, one of the last successful Caribbean pirates,
was defeated in combat and captured by authorities.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_the_Anne>
1937:
The Steel Workers Organizing Committee, precursor to the United
Steel Workers of America, had a major success when it signed a
collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Steel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Workers_Organizing_Committee>
1962:
American basketball player Wilt Chamberlain, then playing for
the Philadelphia Warriors, scored 100 points in a game against the New
York Knicks, still a record in the National Basketball Association
today.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilt_Chamberlain%27s_100-point_game>
1978:
Aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 28, Czechoslovak military
pilot Vladimír Remek became the first person from outside the Soviet
Union or the United States to go into space.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_28>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
devastavit:
1. (law) Waste or misapplication of the assets of a deceased person by an
executor or administrator; devastation.
2. (law) In full, writ of devastavit: a writ issued against an executor or
administrator claiming compensation for such misapplication of assets.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/devastavit>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There are two ways of confronting the country's problems. One is
through a management style based on adventurism, instability, play-
acting, exaggerations, wrongdoing, being secretive, self-importance,
superficiality and ignoring the law. The second way is based on realism,
respect, openness, collective wisdom and avoiding extremism.
--Mir-Hossein Mousavi
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mir-Hossein_Mousavi>
Viking metal is a style of heavy metal music characterized by a lyrical
and thematic focus on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking
Age. It is a genre, or group of genres, often featuring slow-paced and
heavy riffing, anthemic choruses, use of both sung and harsh vocals,
inclusion of folk instrumentation, and frequent use of keyboards for
atmospheric effect. It emerged during the late 1980s and early 1990s
from black metal groups who were influenced by Nordic folk music.
Artists such as Led Zeppelin, Yngwie Malmsteen, Heavy Load, and Manowar
had used lyrics that invoked the Vikings, but Bathory from Sweden is
generally credited with pioneering the style. Enslaved (pictured), from
Norway, followed up Bathory's work with several Viking-themed albums
released during the 1990s. Burzum, Emperor, Einherjer, and Helheim,
among others, further developed the genre. As early as 1989 with
Falkenbach from Germany, Viking metal began spreading outside the Nordic
countries and across the globe. The death metal bands Unleashed and Amon
Amarth also adopted Viking themes, broadening the style from its
primarily black metal origin.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_metal>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1872:
Yellowstone National Park, located primarily in the U.S. state
of Wyoming, the first national park in the world, was established.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park>
1896:
French physicist Henri Becquerel discovered the principle of
radioactive decay when he exposed photographic plates to uranium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Becquerel>
1947:
The International Monetary Fund began its financial operations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Monetary_Fund>
1961:
U.S. President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order
establishing the Peace Corps (logo pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Corps>
2014:
A group of knife-wielding men and women attacked passengers at
Kunming Railway Station in Kunming, China, leaving 31 victims and 4
perpetrators dead with more than 140 others injured.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Kunming_attack>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
englyn:
(poetry) A short Welsh or Cornish poem of a variable structure, with
each line using quantitative metre and cynghanedd (a repeating pattern
of consonants and accent), and different lines being arranged in
standardized patterns of rhyme and half rhyme.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/englyn>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is true that the poet does not directly address his neighbors;
but he does address a great congress of persons who dwell at the back of
his mind, a congress of all those who have taught him and whom he has
admired; that constitute his ideal audience and his better self. To this
congress the poet speaks not of peculiar and personal things, but of
what in himself is most common, most anonymous, most fundamental, most
true of all men. And he speaks not in private grunts and mutterings but
in the public language of the dictionary, of literary tradition, and of
the street. Writing poetry is talking to oneself; yet it is a mode of
talking to oneself in which the self disappears; and the products
something that, though it may not be for everybody, is about everybody.
--Richard Wilbur
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Wilbur>