The St Cuthbert Gospel is an early 8th-century pocket Gospel book,
written in Latin. The essentially undecorated text is the Gospel of John
in Latin, written in a script that has been regarded as a model of
elegant simplicity. Its finely decorated leather binding is the earliest
known Western bookbinding to survive, and both the 94 vellum folios and
the binding are in outstanding condition for a book of its age. It is
one of the smallest surviving Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. The book takes
its name from Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, North East England, in
whose tomb it was placed, probably a few years after his death in 687.
It was probably a gift from Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey, where it was
written, intended for St Cuthbert's coffin when his remains were placed
behind the altar at Lindisfarne in 698. It presumably remained in the
coffin through its long travels after 875, forced by Viking invasions,
ending at Durham Cathedral. The book was found inside the coffin and
removed in 1104. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England by
Henry VIII between 1536 and 1541, the book passed to collectors, and is
now owned by the British Library.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Cuthbert_Gospel>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1557:
Arauco War: Spanish forces of the Governor Francisco de
Villagra launched a surprise dawn attack against the Mapuche headed by
their toqui Lautaro in what is now Chile.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mataquito>
1636:
Eighty Years' War: Dutch Republic forces recaptured a
strategically important fort from Spain after a nine-month siege.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Schenkenschans>
1883:
Governor of New York Grover Cleveland signed legislation that
led to the creation of Niagara Falls State Park (American Falls
pictured), the United States' first state park.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls_State_Park>
1963:
The Bristol Omnibus Company's refusal to employ Black or Asian
bus crews led to a bus boycott in Bristol, drawing national attention to
racial discrimination in the United Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Bus_Boycott>
2009:
A Dutch man drove his car at high speed into a parade in an
attempt to kill the Dutch royal family.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_attack_on_the_Dutch_Royal_Family>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
exhilarate:
1. (transitive) To cheer, to cheer up, to gladden, to make happy.
2. (transitive) To excite, to thrill.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exhilarate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have not come into this world to make men better, but to make
use of their weaknesses.
--Adolf Hitler
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler>
Little Nemo (1911) is a silent animated short film, the first by
American cartoonist Winsor McCay. One of the earliest animated films, it
features characters from his comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland. The
film's expressive character animation distinguished it from the earlier
experiments of animators such as James Stuart Blackton and Émile Cohl.
McCay, inspired by flip books his son brought home, came to see the
potential of the animated film medium. The short's four thousand
drawings on rice paper were shot at Vitagraph Studios under Blackton's
supervision. Most of the film is a live-action sequence in which McCay
bets his colleagues that he can make drawings that move. He wins the bet
with four minutes of animation in which the characters perform,
interact, and metamorphose to McCay's whim. After the film debuted, he
began using it in his vaudeville act. The film's enthusiastic reception
motivated him to hand-color each of the animated frames of the
originally black-and-white film. Its success led him to create more
animated films, including How a Mosquito Operates in 1912, and his best-
known film, Gertie the Dinosaur, in 1914.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Nemo_(1911_film)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1587:
Anglo-Spanish War: In the Bay of Cádiz, Francis Drake led the
first of several naval raids on the Spanish Armada that destroyed so
many ships that Philip II of Spain had to delay his plans to invade
England for over a year.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singeing_the_King_of_Spain%27s_Beard>
1862:
American Civil War: Union forces under David Farragut captured
New Orleans, securing access into the Mississippi River.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_New_Orleans>
1944:
Second World War: British agent Nancy Wake parachuted into the
Auvergne, becoming a liaison between the Special Operations Executive
and the local maquis group
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Wake>
1991:
A powerful tropical cyclone struck Chittagong, Bangladesh,
killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as 10 million
homeless.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Bangladesh_cyclone>
1997:
The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention went into effect,
outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons in
those countries that ratified the arms control agreement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_Weapons_Convention>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
yen:
1. The unit of Japanese currency (symbol: ¥), equal to 100 sen.
2. A coin or note worth one yen. […]
3. A strong desire, urge, or yearning.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yen>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Of what’s to come the wise perceive things about to happen.
Sometimes during moments of intense study their hearing’s troubled:
the hidden sound of things approaching reaches them, and they listen
reverently, while in the street outside the people hear nothing
whatsoever.
--Constantine P. Cavafy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Constantine_P._Cavafy>
The Gudovac massacre was the killing of around 190 Serb civilians by the
Croatian nationalist Ustaše movement on 28 April 1941, during World
War II. It occurred shortly after the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia and
the establishment of the Ustaše-led puppet state known as the
Independent State of Croatia. It was the first Ustaše massacre of Serb
civilians and presaged a wider genocide against them that would last
until the end of the war. The Ustaše used the deaths of two of their
local followers as a pretext for the killings. The victims were drawn
from the Gudovac district, taken to a nearby field and shot en masse.
Five survived the initial shooting and crawled away. The victims were
then buried in a mass grave. The Germans soon became aware of the
killing and dug up some of the bodies; they arrested 40 suspects, who
were released following the intervention of a senior Ustaše official.
Monuments were erected on the site of the massacre in 1955, but
destroyed by Croatian nationalists in 1991, amid inter-ethnic warfare. A
restored monument was unveiled at the site in December 2010.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudovac_massacre>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
About 1,300 miles west of Tahiti, Fletcher Christian, acting
lieutenant on board the Royal Navy ship Bounty, led a mutiny against the
commander, William Bligh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty>
1887:
A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police,
French police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé was released on the order
of William I, the German Emperor, defusing a possible war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Schnaebel%C3%A9>
1910:
Frenchman Louis Paulhan won the London to Manchester air race,
the first long-distance aeroplane race in England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1910_London_to_Manchester_air_race>
1952:
Japan and the Republic of China signed the Treaty of Taipei to
officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War, seven years after fighting
in that conflict ended due to World War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Taipei>
2008:
The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, the world's
highest residence above ground-level at the time (1,389 feet (423 m)),
held its full service grand opening.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_International_Hotel_and_Tower_(Chicago)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fizgig:
1. (archaic) A flirtatious, coquettish girl, inclined to gad or gallivant
about; a gig, a giglot.
2. (archaic) Something frivolous or trivial; a gewgaw, a trinket.
3. (archaic) A small squib-like firework that explodes with a fizzing or
hissing noise.
4. (fishing) A spear with a barb on the end of it, used for catching fish;
a type of harpoon.
5. (Australia, slang, dated) A police informer.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fizgig>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
"Good evening, gentlemen!" said the vampire. "Please pay
attention. I am a reformed vampire, which is to say, I am a bundle of
suppressed instincts held together with spit and coffee. It would be
wrong to say that violent, tearing carnage does not come easily to me.
It's not tearing your throats out that doesn't come easily to me. Please
don't make it any harder."
--Monstrous Regiment
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Discworld#Monstrous_Regiment_.282003.29>
The Greencards are a progressive bluegrass band founded in 2003 in
Austin, Texas, by Englishman Eamon McLoughlin and Australians Kym Warner
and Carol Young. They relocated in 2005 to Nashville, Tennessee. Their
albums include Movin' On (2003), Weather and Water, Viridian (2007), and
Fascination (2009). Their sound has been compared to progressive
American folk rock. Country Music Television named Weather and Water one
of the ten best bluegrass albums of 2005, and The Greencards were
invited to tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson the same year.
Viridian, a critically praised album, was number one on Billboard
magazine's Bluegrass Music Chart, and was nominated for Best Country
Album by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The "Mucky the
Duck" track was nominated for Best Country Instrumental Performance at
the 50th Grammy Awards. McLoughlin left the band in December 2009, and
Carl Miner joined in May 2010. Credited with helping to expand the range
of bluegrass music, they draw from Irish folk music, Romani music, rock
'n' roll, folk balladry, and Latin American musical sources.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greencards>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
629:
Shahrbaraz usurped the throne of the Sasanian Empire from
Ardashir III, but was himself deposed only forty days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahrbaraz>
1522:
Italian War of 1521–26: The combined forces of Spain and the
Papal States defeated a French and Venetian army at the Battle of
Bicocca.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bicocca>
1865:
An explosion destroyed the steamboat Sultana on the Mississippi
River, killing an estimated 1,700 of the 2,400 passengers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_(steamboat)>
1904:
Chris Watson became the first Australian Prime Minister from
the Australian Labour Party, and the first Labour Party prime minister
in the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Watson>
2005:
The Airbus A380, the largest passenger airliner in the world,
made its maiden flight from Toulouse, France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fishbone diagram:
Ishikawa diagram.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fishbone_diagram>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We're in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to
talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony
that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and
sorry that it's all gone.
--Robert M. Pirsig
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig>
Heffernan v. City of Paterson was a U.S. Supreme Court case concerning
the First Amendment rights of public employees, decided on April 26,
2016. Jeffrey Heffernan, a detective with the Paterson, New Jersey,
police force, was seen with a lawn sign for the candidate challenging
the city's incumbent mayor. Heffernan's supervisors mistakenly thought
that he was actively supporting the challenger and demoted him. He
brought suit alleging that his demotion violated his right to free
speech. Writing for a majority of the Supreme Court, Justice Stephen
Breyer (pictured) cited the Court's precedents, which had held that it
is unconstitutional for a government agency to discipline an employee
for engaging in partisan political activity, as long as that activity is
not disruptive to the agency's operations. Even if Heffernan was not
actually engaging in protected speech, he wrote, the discipline against
him sent a message to others to avoid exercising their rights. Justice
Clarence Thomas wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justice Samuel
Alito, in which he agreed that Heffernan had been harmed but not that
his constitutional rights had been violated.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heffernan_v._City_of_Paterson>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1777:
American Revolutionary War: Sixteen-year-old Sybil Ludington
(statue pictured) rode forty miles through the night to warn militiamen
under the control of her father that British troops were planning to
invade Danbury, Connecticut.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybil_Ludington>
1865:
U.S. Army soldiers cornered and fatally shot John Wilkes Booth,
the assassin of US President Abraham Lincoln, in rural northern
Virginia, ending a twelve-day manhunt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkes_Booth>
1945:
World War II: Both the German and Polish–Soviet sides claimed
victory as major fighting in the Battle of Bautzen ended.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bautzen_(1945)>
1989:
An editorial was published in the People's Daily denouncing the
growing unrest in Tiananmen Square, which would remain contentious
through the remainder of the protests.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_26_Editorial>
2007:
Controversy surrounding the relocation of the Bronze Soldier of
Tallinn, a Soviet Red Army World War II memorial in Tallinn, Estonia,
erupted into mass protests and riots.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Night>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hotel load:
(electrical engineering) The electrical load caused by all systems on a
vehicle (especially a marine vessel or a truck) other than propulsion.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hotel_load>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Weaknesses in men of genius are usually an exaggeration of their
personal feeling; in the hands of feeble imitators they become the most
flagrant blunders. Entire schools have been founded on
misinterpretations of certain aspects of the masters. Lamentable
mistakes have resulted from the thoughtless enthusiasm with which men
have sought inspiration from the worst qualities of remarkable artists
because they are unable to reproduce the sublime elements in their work.
--Eugène Delacroix
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix>
George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore (1579–1632), was a Member of
Parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I. He lost much
of his political power after his support for a failed marriage alliance
between Prince Charles and the Spanish House of Habsburg royal family,
and resigned all his offices in 1625 except for his position on the
Privy Council. After declaring his Catholicism publicly, he was created
Baron Baltimore in the Irish peerage. He took an interest in the British
colonisation of the Americas, at first for commercial reasons and later
to create a refuge for English Catholics. He became the proprietor of
Avalon, the first sustained English settlement on the southeastern
peninsula of the island of Newfoundland. Discouraged by its cold climate
and the sufferings of the settlers, he looked for a more suitable spot
and sought a new royal charter to settle what would become the state of
Maryland. Calvert died five weeks before the new Charter was sealed,
leaving the settlement of the Maryland colony to his son Cecil. His
second son Leonard was the first colonial governor of the Province of
Maryland.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Calvert,_1st_Baron_Baltimore>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
775:
Forces of the Abbasid Caliphate won a decisive victory over
rebelling Armenian princes in the Battle of Bagrevand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bagrevand>
1644:
The Ming dynasty of China fell when the Chongzhen Emperor
committed suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_dynasty>
1849:
After Lord Elgin, the Governor General of Canada, signed the
Rebellion Losses Bill into law to compensate the residents of Lower
Canada for losses incurred in Rebellions of 1837, protestors rioted and
burned down the Parliament buildings in Montreal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_the_Parliament_Buildings_in_Montre…>
1920:
At the San Remo conference, the principal Allied Powers of
World War I decided upon the League of Nations mandates for
administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Remo_conference>
1990:
Violeta Chamorro took office as the President of Nicaragua, the
first woman elected in her own right as a head of state in the Americas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violeta_Chamorro>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fishy:
1. Of, from, or similar to fish.
2. Suspicious; inspiring doubt.
3. (LGBT slang) Of drag queens: appearing feminine.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fishy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Truth persuades by teaching, but does not teach by persuading.
--Tertullian
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tertullian>
"The Shape of Things to Come" is the 81st episode of the American
Broadcasting Company's Lost, and the ninth episode of the fourth season,
first aired on April 24, 2008, in the U.S. and Canada. It was written
by Drew Goddard and Brian K. Vaughan and directed by Jack Bender. The
narrative centers on Ben Linus (played by Michael Emerson) as he and the
Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 crash survivors at the Barracks come under
attack in December 2004, while flashforwards to late 2005 show him
recruiting Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) as a hitman and confronting his
enemy Charles Widmore (Alan Dale). Production was paused by the 100-day
Writers Guild of America strike. "The Shape of Things to Come" received
positive critical reviews and the original broadcast was watched by 14
million Americans. Much praise was directed at Emerson's acting skills,
particularly in his reaction to the execution of his character's
daughter Alex (Tania Raymonde). His performance in this episode garnered
a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for the
60th Primetime Emmy Awards, and the episode was nominated in the
category of Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shape_of_Things_to_Come_(Lost)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1479 BC:
Thutmose III (statue pictured) became the sixth Pharaoh of
the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, although during the first 22 years of
the reign he was co-regent with his aunt, Hatshepsut.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thutmose_III>
1547:
Schmalkaldic War: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, led Imperial
troops to a decisive victory in the Battle of Mühlberg over the
Lutheran Schmalkaldic League of Protestant princes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_M%C3%BChlberg>
1915:
The Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire began with the
arrest and deportation of hundreds of prominent Armenians in
Constantinople.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_Armenian_intellectuals_on_24_A…>
1933:
Nazi Germany began its persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses by
shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_in_Nazi_…>
1993:
The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a truck bomb in
London's financial district in Bishopsgate, killing one person, injuring
forty-four others, and causing £350 million in damages.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Bishopsgate_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ytterbium:
1. A metallic chemical element (symbol Yb) with an atomic number of 70.
2. A single atom of this element.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ytterbium>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The end will show the whole truth.
--William the Silent
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_the_Silent>
The Shakespeare authorship question is the argument, first raised in the
19th century, that someone other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-
upon-Avon wrote the works attributed to him. All but a few Shakespeare
scholars and literary historians consider it a fringe belief. Anti-
Stratfordians believe that Shakespeare was a front to shield the
identity of the real author or authors, who for some reason did not want
or could not accept public credit. The controversy has spawned a vast
body of literature, and more than 80 authorship candidates have been
proposed, the most popular being Francis Bacon, Edward de Vere,
Christopher Marlowe, and William Stanley. To the claim that Shakespeare
lacked sufficient education, aristocratic sensibility, or familiarity
with the royal court for a writer of such eminence and genius, scholars
reply that there is much documentary evidence supporting his
authorship—title pages, testimony by contemporary poets and
historians, official records—and none supporting any other candidate.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare_authorship_question>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1014:
Irish forces led by Brian Boru clashed with the Vikings in the
Battle of Clontarf.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Clontarf>
1516:
The most well-known version of the Reinheitsgebot, the German
Beer Purity Law, was adopted across the entirety of Bavaria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot>
1942:
Second World War: In retaliation for the Royal Air Force
bombing of Lübeck several weeks prior, the Luftwaffe began a series of
bombing raids in England, starting with Exeter.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baedeker_Blitz>
1954:
Batting against Vic Raschi of the St. Louis Cardinals, Hank
Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit the first of his record-setting 755
home runs in Major League Baseball.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Aaron>
2009:
Gamma-ray burst GRB 090423 was detected, coming from the most
distant known astronomical object of any kind at the time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRB_090423>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
shy bairns get nowt:
(Geordie) If you're too shy, or don't ask, you will not get what you
want.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shy_bairns_get_nowt>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in
this roar, allay them. The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking
pitch, But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek, Dashes the fire
out. O, I have suffered With those that I saw suffer! A brave vessel,
Who had, no doubt, some noble creatures in her, Dash'd all to pieces! O,
the cry did knock Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perish'd! Had
I been any god of power, I would Have sunk the sea within the earth, or
e'er It should the good ship so have swallow'd, and The fraughting souls
within her.
--The Tempest
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Tempest>
Carnotaurus, a large theropod dinosaur, lived during the Late Cretaceous
period. Known from a single well-preserved skeleton found in Argentina,
it is a member of the Abelisauridae family, and one of the best-
understood theropods from the Southern Hemisphere. Carnotaurus (derived
from Latin for "meat-eating bull") had thick horns above the eyes, and a
very deep skull on a muscular neck. It was a lightly built, bipedal
predator, 8 to 9 m (26.2 to 29.5 ft) long, weighing at least 1.35
metric tons (1.49 short tons). It had small, vestigial forelimbs and
long and slender hindlimbs. Preserved skin impressions show a mosaic of
small scales interrupted by large bumps that lined the sides of the
animal. The horns and neck may have been used in fighting others of its
kind. Its feeding habits remain unclear: some studies suggest the animal
was able to hunt down very large prey, while other studies find it
preyed mainly on small animals. Carnotaurus may have been one of the
fastest large theropods.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnotaurus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1500:
Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral and his crew landed
in present day Brazil and claimed the land for Portugal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_%C3%81lvares_Cabral>
1622:
An Anglo-Persian force combined to capture the Portuguese
garrison at Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Ormuz_(1622)>
1864:
The U.S. Congress passed the Coinage Act, authorizing the
minting of a two-cent coin, the first U.S. coin to bear the phrase "In
God We Trust".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_God_We_Trust>
1969:
The British yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston won the Sunday Times
Golden Globe Race to complete the first solo non-stop circumnavigation
of the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Times_Golden_Globe_Race>
1983:
The West German news magazine Stern published excerpts from
what purported to be the diaries of Adolf Hitler, which were
subsequently revealed to be forgeries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Diaries>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
geoid:
(geography (geodesy)) The shape that the surface of the oceans of the
Earth would take under the influence of the Earth's gravity and rotation
alone, disregarding other factors such as winds and tides; that is, a
surface of constant gravitational potential at zero elevation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/geoid>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe, the
more often and the more intensely the mind of thought is drawn to them:
the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.
--Immanuel Kant
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant>
SMS Kaiser Barbarossa (His Majesty's Ship Emperor Barbarossa) was a
German pre-dreadnought battleship of the Kaiser Friedrich III class.
Built at Schichau in Danzig under Kaiser Wilhelm II's program of naval
expansion, the battleship was laid down in 1898, launched on 21 April
1900, and commissioned the next year at a cost of 20,301,000 Marks.
Armed with a main battery of four 24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns in two
twin gun turrets, the ship had an active career in the Imperial Navy,
apart from two lengthy stays in dry dock, until being decommissioned in
1909. Following the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, she and her
sister ships were mobilized as coastal defense ships and assigned to the
North and Baltic seas, but saw no combat during the war. They were
withdrawn from active duty the next year and relegated to secondary
duties. Kaiser Barbarossa was decommissioned after the war and broken up
in 1919 and 1920.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Kaiser_Barbarossa>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
900:
A debt was pardoned by the Datu of Tondo on the island of Luzon,
as inscribed on the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, the earliest known
written document found in the Philippines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_Copperplate_Inscription>
1802:
Twelve thousand Wahhabis from the first Saudi State invaded the
city of Karbala, killed several thousand inhabitants, and sacked the
city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi_sack_of_Karbala>
1863:
After the Ottoman Empire exiled him from Baghdad,
Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, began his twelve-day
stay in the Garden of Ridván where he declared his mission as "He whom
God shall make manifest".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27u%27ll%C3%A1h>
1918:
Manfred von Richthofen, known as the "Red Baron", was shot down
and killed near Vaux-sur-Somme in France, after a career as the most
successful fighter pilot of First World War with 80 confirmed air combat
victories.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_von_Richthofen>
1962:
The Century 21 Exposition, the first world's fair in the United
States since World War II, opened in Seattle.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_21_Exposition>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
oont:
(India (Anglo-Indian), Australia, colloquial) A camel.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oont>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is not violence that best overcomes hate — nor vengeance that
most certainly heals injury. … Read the New Testament, and observe
what Christ says, and how he acts — make his word your rule, and his
conduct your example. … Love your enemies; bless them that curse you;
do good to them that hate you and despitefully use you.
--Charlotte Brontë
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charlotte_Bront%C3%AB>