The Belgian national football team has represented Belgium in
association football since their maiden match in 1904. The squad is
supervised by the Royal Belgian Football Association, stands under the
global jurisdiction of FIFA and is governed in Europe by UEFA. Most of
their home games are played at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels.
The squad has been known as the Red Devils since 1906; its fan club is
named "1895". Belgium has long-standing football rivalries with its
Dutch and French counterparts, having played both teams nearly every
year from 1905 to 1967. Periods of regular Belgian representation at the
highest international level, from 1920 to 1938, and 1970 to 2002, have
alternated with mostly unsuccessful qualification rounds. The national
team played in three Olympic football tournaments, including the one in
1920, which they won. They achieved victories over four reigning world
champions—West Germany, Brazil, Argentina and France—between 1954
and 2002. Belgium topped the FIFA World Rankings for the first time in
November 2015. They are competing in the European qualifiers for the
2018 World Cup, which will run until October 2017.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium_national_football_team>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1745:
War of the Austrian Succession: French forces defeated the
Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian "Pragmatic Army" at the Battle of Fontenoy in the
Austrian Netherlands in present-day Belgium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fontenoy>
1812:
Spencer Perceval became the only British Prime Minister to be
assassinated when he was shot in the lobby of the House of Commons.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Spencer_Perceval>
1894:
In response to a 28 percent wage cut, 4,000 Pullman Palace Car
Company workers went on strike in Illinois, bringing rail traffic west
of Chicago to a halt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike>
1985:
During an association football match between Bradford City and
Lincoln City in Bradford, England, a flash fire consumed one side of the
Valley Parade stadium, killing 56 attendees.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford_City_stadium_fire>
1997:
Deep Blue became the first computer to win a match against a
world chess champion, when it defeated Garry Kasparov in six games.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_(chess_computer)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hold the ring:
1. (sports, theater, obsolete) To maintain order among spectators
encircling participants in a prizefight or a performance and keep them
from coming too near the participants; to keep the ring.
2. To be a spectator at a fight; (figuratively) to watch other people
argue.
3. (Britain, idiomatic) To oversee a situation while attempting to remain
uninvolved in it.
4. (sports) Of a prizefighter: to hold one's own during a fight; to
continue winning a series of fights.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hold_the_ring>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It's no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick
society.
--Jiddu Krishnamurti
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti>
John Sherman (May 10, 1823 – October 22, 1900) was an American
congressman and senator from Ohio during the Civil War and into the late
nineteenth century. He was the principal author of the Sherman Antitrust
Act of 1890, which was signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison.
His brothers included General William Tecumseh Sherman, Judge Charles
Taylor Sherman, and Hoyt Sherman, an Iowa banker. As a Republican
senator, he worked on legislation to restore the nation's credit abroad
and produce a stable, gold-backed currency at home. Serving as Secretary
of the Treasury in the administration of Rutherford B. Hayes, Sherman
helped to end wartime inflationary measures and to oversee the law
allowing dollars to be redeemed for gold. He returned to the Senate
after his term expired, continuing his work on financial legislation, as
well as writing and debating laws on immigration, business competition
law, and interstate commerce. In 1897, he was appointed Secretary of
State by President William McKinley, but due to failing health, he
retired in 1898 at the start of the Spanish–American War.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sherman>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1833:
Lê Văn Khôi broke out of prison to start a revolt against
Vietnamese Emperor Minh Mạng, primarily to avenge the desecration of
the grave of his adopted father Lê Văn Duyệt, former viceroy of the
southern part of Vietnam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%AA_V%C4%83n_Kh%C3%B4i_revolt>
1849:
A personal dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William
Macready in New York City devolved into a riot that left at least 25
dead and more than 120 injured.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astor_Place_Riot>
1940:
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned and
formally recommended Winston Churchill as his successor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Chamberlain>
1997:
A 7.3 Mw earthquake struck Iran's Khorasan Province, killing
1,567, injuring more than 2,300, leaving 50,000 homeless, and damaging
or destroying more than 15,000 homes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Qayen_earthquake>
2005:
Armenian Vladimir Arutyunian attempted to assassinate US
President George W. Bush and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in
Tbilisi using a hand grenade, which failed to detonate.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Arutyunian>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Amitābha:
1. (Buddhism) The name of a buddha; an artistic depiction of this buddha.
2. In Pure Land Buddhism, a branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism, the name of the
principal buddha regarded as of celestial origin.
3. In Vajrayāna Buddhism, the name of the western buddha, one of the Five
Dhyani Buddhas representing the five qualities of the Buddha.
4. (Hinduism) A class of deities.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Amit%C4%81bha>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The productions of the earth require long and difficult
preparations, before they are rendered fit to supply the wants of men.
--Turgot
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Robert_Jacques_Turgot>
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a four-act play written by Thomas Russell
Sullivan in collaboration with the actor Richard Mansfield (pictured).
It is an adaptation of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, an 1886
novella by Robert Louis Stevenson. The story focuses on the respected
London doctor Henry Jekyll, who uses a potion to transform into Edward
Hyde, a loathsome criminal. Intrigued by the opportunity to play a dual
role, Mansfield secured the stage rights and asked Sullivan to write the
adaptation. The play debuted in Boston on May 9, 1887, then opened on
Broadway in September of that year. Mansfield's performance as the dual
character was acclaimed by critics. The play opened in London in August
1888, just before the first Jack the Ripper murders. Some press reports
compared the murderer to the Jekyll-Hyde character, and Mansfield was
suggested as a possible suspect. Mansfield's company continued to
perform the play in the US until shortly before his death in 1907.
Sullivan made changes from Stevenson's story that have been adopted by
many subsequent adaptations, including several film versions that were
derived from the play.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Jekyll_and_Mr._Hyde_(1887_play)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
328:
Athanasius became the Patriarch of Alexandria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_of_Alexandria>
1877:
An 8.5 Ms earthquake struck the northern portion of Chile,
resulting in the death of 2,541 people, including victims of the ensuing
tsunami as far away as Hawaii and Japan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1877_Iquique_earthquake>
1964:
Ngô Đình Cẩn, de facto ruler of central Vietnam under his
brother President Ngô Đình Diệm before the family's toppling, was
executed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ng%C3%B4_%C4%90%C3%ACnh_C%E1%BA%A9n>
1977:
The Hotel Polen in Amsterdam was destroyed by fire, leaving 33
people dead and 21 injured.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Polen_fire>
1992:
An underground methane explosion at the Westray Mine occurred
in Plymouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, killing all 26 coal miners who were
working at the time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westray_Mine>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
anuran:
(batrachology) Any amphibian of the order Anura; a frog, a toad.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anuran>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is said there will be no more war. We must pretend to believe
that. But when war comes, it is we who will take the first shock and buy
time with our lives. It is we who keep the faith.
--Richard McKenna
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_McKenna>
The white-rumped swallow (Tachycineta leucorrhoa) is a species of bird,
the only one in its genus, in the family Hirundinidae. First described
and given its scientific name by French ornithologist Louis Vieillot in
1817, it has no known population variations. It is black from the eyes
to the nostrils, with a white streak just above. The ear coverts, tail,
and wings are black, with white tips on the wings. The rest of the
upperparts are a glossy blue. Its underparts and underwing-coverts are
white, in addition to the rump, as the name suggests. It usually builds
its nest in holes in trees or dead snags, and sometimes under eaves or
in holes in fence posts. This swallow is found in Argentina, Bolivia,
Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Its natural habitats are dry
savanna, pastureland, the edge of forests, and subtropical or tropical
seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland. It is classified as a
species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of
Nature. Its population is increasing, partly because of the increase in
availability of man-made structures suitable for nest sites.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-rumped_swallow>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1794:
The Reign of Terror: Branded a traitor, French chemist Antoine
Lavoisier, a former royal tax collector with the Ferme générale, was
tried, convicted, and guillotined on the same day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Lavoisier>
1927:
French aviators Charles Nungesser and François Coli aboard the
biplane L'Oiseau Blanc, attempting to make the first non-stop
transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, disappeared after takeoff.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Oiseau_Blanc>
1945:
A parade to celebrate the end of World War II turned into a
riot, followed by widespread disturbances and killings in and around
Sétif, French Algeria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9tif_and_Guelma_massacre>
1970:
Construction workers in New York City attacked students and
others protesting the Kent State shootings.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Hat_Riot>
1987:
A British Army Special Air Service unit ambushed a Provisional
Irish Republican Army unit in Loughgall, Northern Ireland, killing eight
IRA members and a civilian.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loughgall_ambush>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
macron:
(orthography) A short, straight, horizontal diacritical mark (¯) placed
over any of various letters. It usually is used to indicate that the
pronunciation of a vowel is long; in Mandarin Pinyin (Chinese), it
indicates the first tone, e.g., chūzūchē.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/macron>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The recognition of the insuperable limits to his knowledge ought
indeed to teach the student of society a lesson of humility which should
guard him against becoming an accomplice in men's fatal striving to
control society — a striving which makes him not only a tyrant over
his fellows, but which may well make him the destroyer of a civilization
which no brain has designed but which has grown from the free efforts of
millions of individuals.
--Friedrich Hayek
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek>
Subtropical Storm Andrea was the first named storm and first subtropical
cyclone of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. Six people drowned as a
result of the storm. It arose out of an extratropical storm that
attained hurricane-force winds on May 7, three and a half weeks before
the official start of the hurricane season. A non-tropical low developed
on May 9 about 150 miles (240 km) northeast of Daytona Beach, Florida.
It weakened to a subtropical depression the next day while remaining
nearly stationary, and the National Hurricane Center discontinued
advisories early on May 11. Andrea was the first pre-season storm since
Tropical Storm Ana in April 2003 and the first Atlantic named storm in
May since Tropical Storm Arlene in 1981. The storm produced rough surf
along the coastline from Florida to North Carolina, causing beach
erosion and some damage. In some areas, the waves eroded up to 20 feet
(6 m) of beach, leaving 70 homes in danger of collapse. Off North
Carolina, high waves of 34 feet (10 m) and tropical-storm-force winds
damaged three boats; their combined nine passengers sustained injuries
before being rescued by the Coast Guard.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtropical_Storm_Andrea_(2007)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
351:
Jews in the Roman province of Syria Palaestina rebelled against
the rule of Constantius Gallus, Caesar of the Eastern Roman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_revolt_against_Constantius_Gallus>
1685:
Great Turkish War: Ottoman forces prevailed over Venetian
irregulars in the Battle on Vrtijeljka.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_on_Vrtijeljka>
1763:
Pontiac of the Odawa Native American tribe led an attempt to
seize Fort Detroit from the British, marking the start of Pontiac's War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac%27s_War>
1895:
Alexander Stepanovich Popov presented his radio receiver,
refined as a lightning detector, to the Russian Physical and Chemical
Society.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Stepanovich_Popov>
2009:
Police in Napier, New Zealand, began a 40-hour siege of the
home of a former New Zealand Army member who shot at officers during the
routine execution of a search warrant.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Napier_shootings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
epitrachelion:
(Eastern Orthodoxy) The liturgical vestment worn by priests and bishops
of the Eastern Orthodox Church as the symbol of their priesthood,
corresponding to the Western stole.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/epitrachelion>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In love all the contradictions of existence merge themselves and
are lost. Only in love are unity and duality not at variance. Love must
be one and two at the same time. Only love is motion and rest in one.
Our heart ever changes its place till it finds love, and then it has its
rest. But this rest itself is an intense form of activity where utter
quiescence and unceasing energy meet at the same point in love.
--Rabindranath Tagore
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore>
Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin is a large 15th-century panel painting,
oil and tempera on oak, attributed to the Early Netherlandish painter
Rogier van der Weyden and usually dated between 1435 and 1440. Housed in
the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, it shows Luke the Evangelist, patron
saint of artists, sketching the Virgin Mary as she nurses the Child
Jesus. The figures are positioned in a bourgeois interior which leads
out towards a courtyard, river, town and landscape. The enclosed garden,
illusionistic carvings of Adam and Eve on the arms of Mary's throne, and
attributes of St Luke are amongst the painting's iconographic symbols.
The face of Luke is accepted as van der Weyden's self-portrait. The
painting's historical significance rests on both the skill behind the
design and its merging of earthly and divine realms. By positioning
himself in the same space as the Madonna, and showing a painter in the
act of portrayal, Van der Weyden brings to the fore the role of artistic
creativity in 15th-century society. The panel became widely influential
with near copies by the Master of the Legend of Saint Ursula and Hugo
van der Goes.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Luke_Drawing_the_Virgin>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1757:
English poet Christopher Smart was admitted into St Luke's
Hospital for Lunatics in London, beginning his six-year confinement to
mental asylums.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Smart%27s_asylum_confinement>
1801:
French Revolutionary Wars: The outmanned and outgunned
HMS Speedy captured the 32-gun Spanish frigate El Gamo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_6_May_1801>
1937:
The German zeppelin Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed
during an attempt to dock at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey,
killing 36 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_129_Hindenburg>
1954:
At Oxford's Iffley Road Track, English runner Roger Bannister
became the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_mile>
2013:
Amanda Berry escaped from the Cleveland, Ohio, home of her
captor Ariel Castro having been held there with two other women for ten
years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Castro_kidnappings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
measly:
1. Particularly of pigs or pork: infected with larval tapeworms or
trichinae (parasitic roundworms).
2. Of a person: infected with measles.
3. Small (especially contemptibly small) in amount; miserable, paltry,
trifling.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/measly>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
They buried my body And they thought I'd gone, But I am the
Dance, And I still go on. They cut me down And I leapt up high; I am the
life That'll never, never die; I'll live in you If you'll live in me —
I am the Lord Of the Dance, said he.
--Sydney Carter
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sydney_Carter>
Wolfenstein 3D is a first-person shooter video game developed by id
Software, published by Apogee Software and FormGen, and originally
released on May 5, 1992, for MS-DOS. Its innovative, ray casting-based
game engine (illustration shown) was designed by John Carmack. The
player assumes the role of Allied spy William "B.J." Blazkowicz during
World War II as he escapes from the Nazi German prison Castle
Wolfenstein and carries out a series of crucial missions against the
Nazis. Wolfenstein 3D was the second major release by id Software, and
was released through Apogee in two sets of three episodes as shareware;
the first episode was available free of charge, to drive interest in
purchasing the rest. An additional episode, Spear of Destiny, was
released as a standalone retail title through FormGen. Wolfenstein 3D
was a critical and commercial success, garnering numerous awards and
selling over 200,000 copies by the end of 1993. The game popularized the
first-person shooter genre, established standards of fast-paced action
and technical prowess for subsequent games in the genre, and showcased
the viability of the shareware publishing model.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfenstein_3D>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
553:
The Second Council of Constantinople, considered by many
Christian churches to have been the fifth Christian Ecumenical Council,
began to discuss the topics of Nestorianism and Origenism, among others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Council_of_Constantinople>
1809:
Mary Dixon Kies became one of the first American women to
receive a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Dixon_Kies>
1936:
Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italian troops captured Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, unopposed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_of_the_Iron_Will>
1992:
The 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified 202
years after it was proposed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-seventh_Amendment_to_the_United_States…>
2007:
Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashed immediately after takeoff from
Douala International Airport in Cameroon, resulting in the deaths of all
114 people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenya_Airways_Flight_507>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
galeanthropy:
(rare) A mental condition of thinking that one has become a cat, which
is usually manifested in the adoption of feline mannerisms and habits.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/galeanthropy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
WE ARE GROOT.
--Guardians of the Galaxy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Guardians_of_the_Galaxy_(film)>
The Battle of the Coral Sea (4–8 May 1942) was the first battle of
World War II in which the Allies were able to stop a major advance of
the Imperial Japanese Navy. Japanese forces, including two fleet
carriers and a light carrier, had orders to invade and occupy Port
Moresby in New Guinea and Tulagi in the southeastern Solomon Islands.
The US intercepted their communications, and sent two carrier task
forces and a joint Australian–American cruiser force to stop them. On
3–4 May Japanese forces took Tulagi, although several of their
supporting warships were sunk or damaged by aircraft from the US carrier
Yorktown. On 7–8 May the opposing carrier forces exchanged airstrikes
in the Coral Sea. Yorktown was damaged, and the USS Lexington was
scuttled (explosion pictured). After the loss of the Japanese carrier
Shōhō and heavy damage to Shōkaku, the Port Moresby invasion was
scrapped, and never reattempted. The Japanese losses led to a greater
loss a month later at the Battle of Midway, where all four of their
large aircraft carriers were sunk. Two months later, the Allies launched
the Guadalcanal Campaign, hastening Japan's ejection from the South
Pacific.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Coral_Sea>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1493:
Pope Alexander VI issued the papal bull Inter caetera,
establishing a line of demarcation dividing the New World between Spain
and Portugal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter_caetera>
1776:
The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations became
the first of the Thirteen Colonies to renounce its allegiance to the
British Crown.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_of_Rhode_Island_and_Providence_Plantat…>
1886:
An unknown assailant threw a bomb into a crowd of police,
turning a peaceful labor rally in Chicago into the Haymarket massacre,
which resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four
bystanders.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair>
1974:
An all-female Japanese team reached the summit of Manaslu in
the Himalayas, becoming the first women to climb an 8,000-metre peak.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manaslu>
2015:
The Parliament of Malta moved from the Grandmaster's Palace to
the purpose-built Parliament House.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_House_(Malta)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lightsaber:
(science fiction) A sword having a blade made of a powerful beam of
light.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lightsaber>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I do not agree with the extremists of either the left or the
right, but I think they should be allowed to speak and to publish, both
because they themselves have, and ought to have, rights, and once their
rights are gone, the rights of the rest of us are hardly safe.
Extremists typically want to squash not only those who disagree with
them diametrically, but those who disagree with them at all. It seems to
me that in every country where extremists of the left have gotten
sufficiently in the saddle to squash the extremists of the right, they
have ridden on to squash the center or terrorize it also. And the same
goes for extremists of the right. I do not want that to happen in our
country.
--Jane Jacobs
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs>
Temperatures Rising is an American television sitcom that aired on the
ABC network with 46 episodes from September 1972 to August 1974. It was
developed by William Asher and Harry Ackerman. The first season, set in
a fictional Washington, D.C. hospital, featured James Whitmore as a no-
nonsense chief-of-staff who endures the antics of a young intern
(Cleavon Little) and three nurses (Joan Van Ark, Reva Rose, and Nancy
Fox). In the 13-episode second season, produced by Duke Vincent and
Bruce Johnson, everyone except Little was replaced, and the show was
retitled The New Temperatures Rising Show. Comedian Paul Lynde played a
penny-pinching chief-of-staff, accompanied by Sudie Bond, Barbara Cason,
Jennifer Darling, Jeff Morrow, and John Dehner. Critics preferred the
second-season cast, but the black comedy approach led to lower ratings.
In an unsuccessful seven-episode summer revival of the series, Asher
returned as producer and restored the series to its original format and
title, retaining Paul Lynde in the lead, with a cast of Little, Fox,
Alice Ghostley and Barbara Rucker.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperatures_Rising>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1491:
Nkuwu Nzinga of the Kingdom of Kongo was baptised as João I by
Portuguese missionaries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_I_of_Kongo>
1791:
The Polish–Lithuanian Constitution of May 3, the oldest
codified national constitution in Europe, was adopted by the Great Sejm.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_May_3,_1791>
1915:
The oldest continually operational Royal Air Force station, RAF
Northolt, opened as the home to No. 4 Reserve Aeroplane Squadron.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Northolt>
1942:
Second World War: Japanese forces began invading Tulagi and
nearby islands in the Solomon Islands, enabling them to threaten and
interdict the supply and communication routes between the United States
and Australia and New Zealand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Tulagi_(May_1942)>
2007:
Three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared while on holiday
with her family in Portugal, sparking "the most heavily reported
missing-person case in modern history."
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Madeleine_McCann>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Fortean:
1. Of or pertaining to anomalous phenomena.
2. Of or pertaining to Charles Fort.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Fortean>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The corporations that hold these copyrights are media companies
that also control most of the new media that comes out. Estimates vary,
but it's said that 98 percent of all culture is unavailable right now
because of copyrights. So the reason they hold the copyrights isn't
because they want to get paid, it's because they don't want all the old
stuff competing with the media stream that they control now.
--Nina Paley
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nina_Paley>
James Moore (c. 1737 – 1777) was a Continental Army general during the
American Revolutionary War. Born into a prominent political family in
the lower Cape Fear River area of North Carolina, he was one of only
five Continental Army generals from the state. He served in the colonial
militia during the French and Indian War, and commanded the colonial
governor's artillery at the Battle of Alamance, which ended the War of
the Regulation. In the independence movement, Moore played a prominent
role in the local Sons of Liberty organizations, and assisted in
organizing the colony-wide Provincial Congress. In 1775, he was elected
the first commander of a Continental Line regiment in North Carolina,
which had been raised pursuant to instructions of the Continental
Congress. After distinguishing himself in the campaign that led to the
Patriot victory at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in February 1776,
Moore was promoted to brigadier general in the Continental Army. He held
de facto command of the Southern Department before his death due to
illness.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Moore_(Continental_Army_officer)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1559:
Scottish clergyman John Knox returned from exile to lead the
Scottish Reformation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Knox>
1863:
American Civil War: Confederate general Stonewall Jackson was
wounded by friendly fire during the Battle of Chancellorsville, leading
to his death by pneumonia eight days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chancellorsville>
1945:
World War II: General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the German
troops in Berlin, surrendered the city to Soviet forces led by Marshal
Georgy Zhukov, ending the Battle of Berlin (Brandenburg Gate pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Berlin>
1999:
Mireya Moscoso became the first woman to be elected President
of Panama.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mireya_Moscoso>
2014:
Ukrainian crisis: Forty-eight people were killed during a
confrontation between pro-Russian protesters and pro-Ukrainian unity
protesters in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Odessa_clashes>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
punch above one's weight:
(idiomatic) To achieve or perform at a higher level than would be
expected based on one's preparation, attributes, rank, or past
accomplishments.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/punch_above_one%27s_weight>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Every stage of education begins with childhood. That is why the
most educated person on earth so much resembles a child.
--Novalis
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Novalis>