Melbourne Castle was an incomplete medieval castle, founded in 1311 by
Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, in Melbourne, Derbyshire. It was built on
the site of an earlier royal manor house that had provided accommodation
for noblemen hunting in a nearby royal park in the reign of King John.
After the earl's execution in 1322 for opposing Edward II, the castle
was mainly in the possession of the Crown or the Earls and Dukes of
Lancaster. Improvements and repairs were made by John of Gaunt and
others, and the building was in generally good condition throughout the
fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. John I, Duke of Bourbon, was
kept at Melbourne for 19 years after his capture at the Battle of
Agincourt in 1415, and it was considered as a possible prison for Mary
Queen of Scots. The castle was in decline by the end of the reign of
Elizabeth I. It was purchased in 1604 by Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of
Huntingdon, who had his own castle in nearby Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and was
gradually demolished for its building materials. All that remains is a
short section of wall and some foundations. The ruins are grade II
listed and the site is a scheduled monument, with no public access.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Castle>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1685:
Monmouth Rebellion: The Duke of Monmouth declared himself King
of England at Bridgwater.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Scott,_1st_Duke_of_Monmouth>
1789:
French Revolution: Meeting in a tennis court near the Palace of
Versailles, members of France's Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath,
pledging not to separate until a new constitution was established.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_Court_Oath>
1921:
Workers at the Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in the city of
Madras, India, began a four-month strike.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1921_Buckingham_and_Carnatic_Mills_strike>
1960:
The Mali Federation gained independence from France, but lasted
only two months before dividing into Senegal and Mali.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_Federation>
2007:
Sammy Sosa of the Texas Rangers became the fifth player in
Major League Baseball history to hit his 600th career home run.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Sosa>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cravat:
1. A wide fabric band worn as a necktie by men having long ends hanging in
front, like an ascot tie.
2. (historical) A decorative fabric band or scarf worn around the neck by
women.
3. (surgery) A bandage resembling a cravat, particularly a triangular
bandage folded into a strip.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cravat>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Lives were being ruined and few hands were raised in help. Since
when do you have to agree with people to defend them from injustice?
--Lillian Hellman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lillian_Hellman>
Auriscalpium vulgare, the pinecone mushroom, is a species of fungus in
the family Auriscalpiaceae. It was first described in 1753 by Carl
Linnaeus, who included it as a member of the tooth fungi genus Hydnum.
British mycologist Samuel Frederick Gray recognized its uniqueness in
1821 and created the genus Auriscalpium for it. It is widely distributed
in Europe, Central America, North America, and temperate Asia. The
small, spoon-shaped mushrooms grow on conifer litter or on conifer cones
in soil. The dark brown cap is covered with fine brown hairs, and
reaches a diameter of up to 2 cm (0.8 in). The underside of the cap
has an array of tiny tooth-shaped protrusions up to 3 mm long. The dark
brown, hairy stem, up to 55 mm (2.2 in) long and 2 mm thick, attaches
to one edge of the cap. High levels of humidity are essential for
optimum mushroom development, while excesses of either light or darkness
inhibit growth. A. vulgare is generally too tough to be considered
edible, but some historical literature says it used to be consumed in
France and Italy.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auriscalpium_vulgare>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1846:
The first officially recorded baseball game using modern rules
developed by Alexander Cartwright was played in Hoboken, New Jersey,
U.S.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball>
1867:
Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico was executed by firing squad in
Querétaro.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_I_of_Mexico>
1970:
The Patent Cooperation Treaty, an international law treaty, was
signed, providing a unified procedure for filing patent applications to
protect inventions.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_Cooperation_Treaty>
1987:
Basque separatist group ETA detonated a car bomb at the
Hipercor shopping centre in Barcelona, killing 21 people and injuring 45
others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_Hipercor_bombing>
2009:
Mass riots involving over 10,000 people and 10,000 police
officers broke out in Shishou, China, over the dubious circumstances
surrounding the death of a local chef.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shishou_incident>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
anomaloscope:
(ophthalmology) An instrument used to test for color blindness by
measuring quantitative and qualitative anomalies in color perception.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anomaloscope>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Weak logic, inconsistencies and alienation from the people are
common features of authoritarianism. The relentless attempts of
totalitarian regimes to prevent free thought and new ideas and the
persistent assertion of their own lightness bring on them an
intellectual stasis which they project on to the nation at large.
Intimidation and propaganda work in a duet of oppression, while the
people, lapped in fear and distrust, learn to dissemble and to keep
silent. And all the time the desire grows for a system which will lift
them from the position of "rice-eating robots" to the status of human
beings who can think and speak freely and hold their heads high in the
security of their rights.
--Aung San Suu Kyi
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi>
A coup in Guatemala, launched on 18 June 1954, deposed the
democratically elected President Jacobo Árbenz (pictured in mural). The
result of a covert operation of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA), it ended the Guatemalan Revolution of 1944–54, a period of
representative democracy and liberal reform. The U.S. government was
motivated by a Cold War predisposition to assume Árbenz was a
communist, and by lobbying from the United Fruit Company for his
overthrow. The CIA, authorized in August 1953 by Dwight Eisenhower to
carry out the operation, armed, funded, and trained a force of 480 men
led by Carlos Castillo Armas. Most of the offensives of the invasion
force were repelled, but a heavy campaign of psychological warfare and
the possibility of a U.S. invasion intimidated the Guatemalan army,
which eventually refused to fight. Árbenz resigned on 27 June, and
Castillo Armas became president ten days later, the first in a series of
authoritarian rulers in the country. The coup was widely criticized
internationally, and contributed to long-lasting anti-U.S. sentiment in
Latin America.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
860:
A fleet of about 200 Rus' vessels sailed into the Bosporus and
started pillaging the suburbs of Constantinople.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Constantinople_(860)>
1858:
Charles Darwin received a manuscript by fellow naturalist
Alfred Russel Wallace on natural selection, which prompted Darwin to
publish his theory of evolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace>
1972:
British European Airways Flight 548 crashed near the town of
Staines less than three minutes after departing from London Heathrow
Airport, killing all 118 people aboard, the worst air accident in the
UK.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_European_Airways_Flight_548>
1981:
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational aircraft to
be designed around stealth technology, made its first flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-117_Nighthawk>
2012:
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was appointed crown prince of
Saudi Arabia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_of_Saudi_Arabia>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
weevil:
1. Any of several small herbivorous beetles in the superfamily
Curculionoidea, many having a distinctive snout.
2. Any of several small herbivorous beetles in the family Curculionidae
belonging to the superfamily Curculionoidea.
3. Any of several similar but more distantly related beetles such as the
biscuit weevil (Stegobium paniceum).
4. (figuratively, derogatory) A loathsome person.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/weevil>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We are connected with some people and never meet others, but it
could easily have happened otherwise. Looking back over a lifetime, we
describe what happened as if it had a plan. To fully understand how
accidental and random life is — how vast the odds are against any
single event taking place — would be humbling.
--Roger Ebert
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Ebert>
Upper Pine Bottom State Park is a 5-acre (2.0 ha) Pennsylvania state
park near the southern end of what has been called the "Grand Canyon of
Pennsylvania", Pine Creek Gorge. The park is in Lycoming County on Upper
Pine Bottom Run, a tributary of Pine Creek in the West Branch
Susquehanna River drainage basin. Local streams have cut through five
major rock formations from the Devonian and Carboniferous periods. The
earliest recorded inhabitants of the area were the Iroquoian-speaking
Susquehannocks; they were followed by the Iroquois, Lenape, and Shawnee.
Upper Pine Bottom Run was the site of a furnace for pig iron in 1814.
The first sawmill was built on it in 1815, and in 1825 an earlier
bridle path across its headwaters became a turnpike. The park is
surrounded by 105,000 acres (42,000 ha) of the Tiadaghton State Forest,
which was created after the lumber industry clearcut the area in the
19th century. Upper Pine Bottom State Park is one of the smallest state
parks in Pennsylvania.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Pine_Bottom_State_Park>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1462:
Forces led by Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia attacked an Ottoman
camp at night in an attempt to assassinate Mehmed II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Attack_at_T%C3%A2rgovi%C5%9Fte>
1843:
New Zealand Wars: An armed posse of Europeans set out from
Nelson to arrest Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha and clashed with Māori,
resulting in 26 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wairau_Affray>
1900:
Boxer Rebellion: Allied naval forces captured the Taku Forts
after a brief but bloody battle.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Taku_Forts_(1900)>
1930:
U.S. President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot–Hawley Tariff
Act into law, raising tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record
levels.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot%E2%80%93Hawley_Tariff_Act>
1963:
Around 2,000 people rioted in South Vietnam, despite the
signing of the Joint Communiqué to resolve the ongoing Buddhist crisis
one day earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Communiqu%C3%A9>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
parliament:
1. (government, politics) Meanings relating to a political body authorized
to exercise governmental powers.
2. An institution whose elected or appointed members meet to debate the
major political issues of the day and usually to exercise legislative
powers and sometimes judicial powers.
3. A group of representatives of the people elected or appointed to serve
as a parliament (in sense 1 above) for a certain period of time. In this
sense the word is commonly used with an ordinal number (for example,
first parliament and 12th parliament) or a descriptive adjective (for
example, Long Parliament, Short Parliament and Rump Parliament).
4. A flock of owls or rooks.
5. (historical) Parliament cake, a type of gingerbread.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parliament>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We have severely underestimated the Russians, the extent of the
country and the treachery of the climate. This is the revenge of
reality.
--Heinz Guderian
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heinz_Guderian>
OK Computer is the third studio album by English alternative rock band
Radiohead (pictured), released on 16 June 1997 in the UK by EMI
subsidiaries Parlophone and Capitol Records. The band made a deliberate
attempt to distance themselves from the guitar-oriented, lyrically
introspective style of prior works like The Bends. OK Computer's
abstract lyrics, densely layered sound and eclectic range of influences
laid the groundwork for the more experimental style Radiohead adopted
beginning with their next album, Kid A. Although record label executives
feared the progressive album would be difficult to market, it reached
number one on the UK Albums Chart and became the band's highest album
entry on the American charts at the time, debuting at number 21 on the
Billboard 200. The album's lyrics, depicting a world fraught with
rampant consumerism, social alienation, emotional isolation and
political malaise, are often interpreted as having prescient insight
into the mood of 21st-century life.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_Computer>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
632:
The final king of the Sasanian Empire of Iran, Yazdegerd III,
took the throne at the age of eight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazdegerd_III>
1795:
French Revolutionary Wars: Off the coast of Brittany, a British
Royal Navy battle squadron commanded by William Cornwallis (pictured)
fended off a numerically superior French Navy fleet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornwallis%27s_Retreat>
1911:
Computing company IBM was founded as the Computing-Tabulating-
Recording Company.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computing-Tabulating-Recording_Company>
1961:
Pioneering Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defected from
the Soviet Union at Paris–Le Bourget Airport with the help of French
police and a Parisian socialite friend.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Nureyev>
2013:
A multi-day cloudburst caused severe flooding in the North
Indian state of Uttarakhand, resulting in over 5,700 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_North_India_floods>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
rent-seeking:
(economics) The attempt to profit by manipulating the economic or
political environment, for example, by seeking subsidies.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rent-seeking>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Homo sapiens is the species that invents symbols in which to
invest passion and authority, then forgets that symbols are inventions.
--Joyce Carol Oates
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joyce_Carol_Oates>
The Sweet Track is an ancient causeway in the Somerset Levels, England.
Built in 3807 or 3806 BC along an earlier structure, the Post Track, it
was the oldest unearthed timber trackway in Northern Europe until the
2009 discovery of a 6,000-year-old trackway in Plumstead, London. It
extended close to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) across the now largely
drained marsh between what was then an island at Westhay and a ridge of
high ground at Shapwick. Various artefacts, including a jadeitite
ceremonial axe head, have been found along its length. Construction was
of crossed wooden poles, driven into the waterlogged soil to support a
walkway that consisted mainly of planks of oak, laid end-to-end. The
track was abandoned after 10 years of use, probably due to rising water
levels. Following its discovery in 1970, most of the track has been left
in its original location, with active conservation measures taken,
including a water pumping and distribution system to maintain the wood
in its damp condition. Some of the track is stored at the British Museum
and a reconstruction of a section was built at the Peat Moors Centre
near Glastonbury.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Track>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
763 BC:
The Eclipse of Bur-Sagale was observed in Assyria, the
earliest solar eclipse mentioned in historical sources that has been
successfully identified.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse>
1670:
The first stone of Malta's Fort Ricasoli was laid.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ricasoli>
1896:
A 7.2 Ms earthquake and a subsequent tsunami struck Japan,
destroying about 9,000 homes and causing at least 22,000 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1896_Sanriku_earthquake>
1920:
Three African American circus workers were lynched by a mob in
Duluth, Minnesota, a crime that shocked the country for having taken
place in the Northern United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920_Duluth_lynchings>
2001:
Leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan formed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
logion:
1. (theology) A traditional saying of a religious leader.
2. (specifically, Christianity) A saying that is attributed to Jesus but
which is not in the Bible.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/logion>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I think it's already apparent that a good part of this Nation
understands — if only instinctively — that anything which seems to
suggest that God favors a political party or the establishment of a
state church, is wrong and dangerous. Way down deep the American people
are afraid of an entangling relationship between formal religions — or
whole bodies of religious belief — and government. Apart from
constitutional law and religious doctrine, there is a sense that tells
us it's wrong to presume to speak for God or to claim God's sanction of
our particular legislation and His rejection of all other positions.
Most of us are offended when we see religion being trivialized by its
appearance in political throw-away pamphlets. The American people need
no course in philosophy or political science or church history to know
that God should not be made into a celestial party chairman.
--Mario Cuomo
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mario_Cuomo>
The Last of Us is an action-adventure survival horror video game
developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony, released for the
PlayStation 3 worldwide on June 14, 2013. Players control Joel (Troy
Baker), a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenager, Ellie (Ashley
Johnson), across a post-apocalyptic United States. In third-person
perspective, players use firearms, improvised weapons, and stealth to
defend against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures infected by a
mutated Cordyceps fungus. Up to eight players may engage in cooperative
and competitive gameplay online. The game received universal acclaim for
its narrative, gameplay, visual and sound design, characterization, and
depiction of female characters. The month of its release, it was the
PlayStation 3's fastest-selling game that year: over 1.3 million units
within a week, and over 3.4 million within three weeks. It won year-end
accolades, including many Game of the Year awards, and is considered to
be one of the greatest video games of all time. An enhanced edition, The
Last of Us Remastered, was released for the PlayStation 4 in 2014, and a
sequel, The Last of Us Part II, was announced in 2016.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_Us>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1285:
Forces led by Prince Trần Quang Khải of Vietnam's Trần
dynasty destroyed most of the invading Mongol naval fleet in a battle at
Chuong Duong.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%E1%BA%A7n_Quang_Kh%E1%BA%A3i>
1777:
The Second Continental Congress adopted the stars and stripes
design for the flag of the United States (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_United_States>
1822:
In a paper presented to the Royal Astronomical Society, English
mathematician Charles Babbage proposed a difference engine, an
automatic, mechanical calculator designed to tabulate polynomial
functions.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage>
1944:
Second World War: The British Army abandoned its attempt to
capture the German-occupied city of Caen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Perch>
1966:
The Vatican formally abolished its 427-year-old list of
prohibited books.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_Librorum_Prohibitorum>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gallimaufry:
1. (dated) A hash of various kinds of meats, a ragout.
2. (figuratively) Any absurd medley.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gallimaufry>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I think the big problem this country has is being politically
correct.
--Donald Trump
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donald_Trump>
Macrotarsomys petteri, Petter's big-footed mouse, is a Malagasy rodent.
It is the largest in its genus, with a head and body length of 150 mm
(5.9 in) and body mass of 105 g (3.7 oz). The upperparts are brown,
darkest in the middle of the back, and the underparts are white to
yellowish. The animal has long whiskers, short forelimbs, and long
hindfeet. The tail ends in a prominent tuft of long, light hairs. The
skull is robust and the molars are low-crowned and cuspidate. The
species most resembles, and may be most closely related to, the greater
big-footed mouse. The specific name, petteri, honors French zoologist
François Petter for his contributions to the study of Malagasy rodents.
M. petteri is now found only in southwestern Madagascar's Mikea Forest,
which is threatened by human development. Subfossil records indicate
that it used to be more widely distributed in southern Madagascar;
climatic changes and competition with introduced species may have led to
the shift in its distribution.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrotarsomys_petteri>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
313:
The Edict of Milan, an agreement between Constantine the Great
and Licinius to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire,
was posted in Nicomedia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Milan>
1881:
An Arctic Ocean ice pack crushed the USS Jeannette during its
expedition to the North Pole.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Jeannette_(1878)>
1944:
Second World War: During the Battle of Villers-Bocage, German
tank commander Michael Wittmann personally destroyed dozens of Allied
vehicles in less than 15 minutes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Wittmann>
1981:
English teenager Marcus Sarjeant fired six blank shots at Queen
Elizabeth II as she rode down The Mall to the Trooping the Colour
ceremony.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Sarjeant>
2007:
Former Iraqi government official Haitham al-Badri orchestrated
a second bombing of the al-Askari Mosque, one of the holiest sites in
Shia Islam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_al-Askari_mosque_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
leapfrog:
1. (transitive) To jump over some obstacle, as in the game of leapfrog.
2. (transitive) To overtake.
3. (intransitive) To progress.
4. (transitive, chiefly Britain, law) Of a case: to appeal or allow to be
appealed directly to a supreme court, bypassing an intermediate
appellate court.
5. (transitive, military) To advance by engaging the enemy with one unit
while another moves further forward.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/leapfrog>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A lofty morality should be tolerant, for none declare its laws but
those worn out with its warfare, and they must pity sinners.
--The Autobiography of William Butler Yeats
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Autobiography_of_William_Butler_Yeats>
Roy Phillipps (1892–1941) was an Australian fighter ace of World
War I. He achieved fifteen victories in aerial combat, four of them in
a single action on 12 June 1918. A grazier between the wars, he joined
the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1940 and was killed in a plane
crash the following year. Born in New South Wales but raised in Western
Australia, Phillipps joined the Australian Imperial Force as an
infantryman in April 1915, seeing action at Gallipoli and on the Western
Front. Wounded twice in 1916, he transferred to the Australian Flying
Corps (AFC) and, having falsified his age, was accepted for pilot
training in May 1917. As a member of No. 2 Squadron in France,
Phillipps flew mainly S.E.5 fighters, and was awarded two Military
Crosses and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions. He finished
the war a major, commanding No. 6 (Training) Squadron in England. He
returned to Australia in 1919 and left the AFC. Soon after the outbreak
of World War II, he enlisted in the RAAF. At his death he was ranked
squadron leader, commanding No. 2 Elementary Flying Training School at
Archerfield, Queensland.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Phillipps>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1240:
The Disputation of Paris began in the court of King Louis IX,
in which four rabbis defended the Talmud against Nicholas Donin's
accusations of blasphemy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disputation_of_Paris>
1381:
The first mass protest in the Peasants' Revolt began in
Blackheath, England, caused by political and socioeconomic tensions due
to the Black Death and high taxes as a result of the Hundred Years' War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasants%27_Revolt>
1942:
On her thirteenth birthday, Anne Frank began keeping her diary
during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diary_of_a_Young_Girl>
1967:
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered its decision in the landmark
civil rights case Loving v. Virginia, striking down laws restricting
interracial marriage in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia>
1987:
Cold War: During a speech at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate by the
Berlin Wall, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenged Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall!"
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tear_down_this_wall!>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
killer poke:
(computing) Any method of inducing physical harm to a computer or
peripheral by software means, especially by inserting invalid values
into a control register or by building up harmonic oscillations in a
hard disk, etc.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/killer_poke>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We all know that a good example is more effective than advice. So
set a good example, and it won't take long for others to follow.
--Anne Frank
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Frank>
Alexander (1893–1920) was King of Greece from 11 June 1917 until his
death at the age of 27. He succeeded his father, King Constantine I, in
1917, after the Entente Powers of World War I and followers of
Eleftherios Venizelos pushed the king and his eldest son Crown Prince
George into exile. Venizelos, as prime minister, became the effective
ruler with the support of the Entente. Though reduced to the status of a
puppet king, Alexander supported Greek troops during their war against
the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. Under his reign, Greece expanded,
following the victory of the Entente and the early stages of the Greco-
Turkish War of 1919–1922. Alexander married the commoner Aspasia Manos
in 1919, provoking a major scandal that forced the couple to leave
Greece for several months. Soon after returning to Greece with his wife,
Alexander was bitten by a domestic Barbary macaque and died of
septicemia. The sudden death of the sovereign contributed to the fall of
the Venizelist regime. After a general election and a referendum,
Constantine I was restored.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_of_Greece>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1345:
Inspecting a new prison without being escorted by his
bodyguard, Alexios Apokaukos, megas doux of the Byzantine Navy, was
lynched by the prisoners.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexios_Apokaukos>
1837:
Tensions between Yankees and Irish Americans in Boston,
Massachusetts, erupted in the Broad Street Riot.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad_Street_Riot>
1920:
During their national convention in Chicago, U.S. Republican
Party leaders gathered in The Blackstone Hotel to decide their
presidential candidate, leading to the phrase "smoke-filled room".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blackstone_Hotel>
1963:
Vietnamese monk Thích Quảng Đức burned himself to death
in Saigon to protest the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnamese
President Ngo Dinh Diem's administration.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Qu%E1%BA%A3ng_%C4%90%E1%BB%A9c>
2007:
Mudslides caused by heavy monsoon rainfall killed around 130
people in Chittagong, Bangladesh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chittagong_mudslides>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
shoefie:
(photography, slang, neologism) A photograph of one's own shoes taken
while one is wearing them.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shoefie>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Of all wild beasts preserve me from a tyrant; and of all tame, a
flatterer.
--Ben Jonson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Jonson>