July 11: Dredd
by English Wikipedia Article of the Day
11 Jul '17
11 Jul '17
Dredd is a 2012 science fiction action film directed by Pete Travis and
written and produced by Alex Garland, released first on 11 July at the
San Diego Comic-Con, and worldwide that September. Karl Urban (pictured)
stars as Judge Dredd (based on the 2000 AD comic book character), a law
enforcer given the power of judge, jury and executioner in a vast, post-
apocalyptic metropolis called Mega-City One. Dredd and his apprentice
partner, Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), are instructed to bring order
to a 200-storey high-rise block of flats and deal with its resident drug
lord, Ma-Ma (Lena Headey). Produced by the British studio DNA Films,
Dredd began principal photography, using 3D cameras throughout, in
November 2010. Filming took place on practical sets and in Cape Town and
Johannesburg. Critics were generally positive about the film's visual
effects, casting and action, but found it too violent, and out of touch
with the satire of the comic strip. It earned just over $41 million at
the box office on an estimated budget of $30–45 million, but saw
greater success following its home release, and has since been
recognised as a cult film.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dredd>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1405:
Marking the start of Ming China's treasure voyages, Admiral
Zheng He's expeditionary fleet set sail towards foreign regions on the
South China Sea and Indian Ocean.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_voyages>
1848:
London Waterloo station, Britain's busiest railway station by
passenger usage, was opened by the London and South Western Railway.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Waterloo_station>
1936:
New York City's Triborough Bridge, the "biggest traffic machine
ever built", opened to traffic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triborough_Bridge>
1960:
To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee, featuring themes
of racial injustice and the destruction of innocence in the American
Deep South, was first published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird>
2011:
An explosion at the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base killed 13
people, including the head of the Cyprus Navy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelos_Florakis_Naval_Base_explosion>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
russet:
1. Having a reddish-brown color.
2. (archaic) Gray or ash-colored.
3. (botany) Having a rough skin that is reddish-brown or greyish; russeted.
4. Rustic, homespun, coarse, plain.
5. The condition of leather when its treatment is complete, but it is not
yet colored (stained) and polished.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/russet>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The duties of man consist in alternate action and meditation,
mutually aiding and relieving each other; and both, directed with
undeviating aim, to the progressive improvement of himself and his
fellow creatures. Heaven has given him in charge, to promote the
happiness and well-being of himself, his wife, his children, his
kindred, his neighbors, his fellow citizens, his country, and his kind;
and the great problem of legislation is, so to organize the civil
government of a community, that this gradation of duties, may be made to
harmonize in all its parts — that in the operation of human
institutions upon social action, self-love and social may be made the
same.
--John Quincy Adams
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams>
Grace Sherwood (c. 1660 – c. 1740), called the Witch of Pungo, is the
last person known to have been convicted of witchcraft in Virginia. A
farmer, healer, and midwife, she was charged with witchcraft several
times. In 1706, she was accused of bewitching Elizabeth Hill and causing
her to miscarry. The court ordered that Sherwood's guilt or innocence be
determined by dunking her in water: if she sank, she was innocent; if
she did not, she was guilty. Sherwood floated to the surface, and may
have spent up to eight years in jail before being released. After being
freed from prison and recovering her property from Princess Anne County,
she lived on her farm in Pungo from 1714 until her death at the age of
about 80. On July 10, 2006, the 300th anniversary of Sherwood's
conviction, Governor Tim Kaine reversed the miscarriage of justice and
restored her good name. A statue depicting her was erected in Virginia
Beach, close to the site of the colonial courthouse where she was tried.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Sherwood>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1519:
Zhu Chenhao declared Ming emperor Zhengde a usurper, beginning
the Prince of Ning rebellion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Ning_rebellion>
1800:
Lord Wellesley, Governor-General of the British Raj, founded
Fort William College in Fort William, India.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_William_College>
1942:
An American naval aviator discovered a downed Mitsubishi A6M
Zero on Akutan Island, Alaska, US, which was later rebuilt and flown to
devise tactics against that type of aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akutan_Zero>
1966:
Martin Luther King Jr. led a rally in support of the Chicago
Freedom Movement, one of the most ambitious civil rights campaigns in
the northern United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Freedom_Movement>
2011:
The last edition of the British tabloid News of the World was
published, closing due to allegations that it hacked the voicemails of
murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, victims of the 7/7 attacks and
relatives of deceased British soldiers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_International_phone_hacking_scandal>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
exonerate:
1. (transitive, now rare) To relieve (someone or something) of a load; to
unburden (a load).
2. (obsolete, reflexive) Of a body of water: to discharge or empty
(itself).
3. (transitive) To free from an obligation, responsibility or task.
4. (transitive) To free from accusation or blame.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exonerate>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by a power
obtainable at any point of the universe. This idea is not novel. Men
have been led to it long ago by instinct or reason; it has been
expressed in many ways, and in many places, in the history of old and
new. We find it in the delightful myth of Antaeus, who derives power
from the earth; we find it among the subtle speculations of one of your
splendid mathematicians and in many hints and statements of thinkers of
the present time. Throughout space there is energy. Is this energy
static or kinetic! If static our hopes are in vain; if kinetic — and
this we know it is, for certain — then it is a mere question of time
when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork
of nature.
--Nikola Tesla
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla>
Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine
founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in March 1923. The
first editor, Edwin Baird, printed early work by H. P. Lovecraft,
Seabury Quinn, and Clark Ashton Smith, all of whom would go on to be
popular writers. Under its second editor, Farnsworth Wright, its fiction
included Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos stories, some of Robert E. Howard's
Conan the Barbarian stories, and Seabury Quinn's series about Jules de
Grandin, a detective who specialized in the supernatural. When the
magazine was launched there were none specializing in science fiction,
and Wright included stories in that genre by Edmond Hamilton and others.
After William Delaney took over as publisher, replacing Wright with
Dorothy McIlwraith as editor in 1940, some successful new authors and
artists, such as Ray Bradbury and Hannes Bok, continued to appear, but
the magazine ceased publication in 1954. It was relaunched many times,
including for one run of over 20 years that started in 1988. The
magazine is regarded by historians of fantasy as one of the most
influential in the genre.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_Tales>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1745:
War of the Austrian Succession: The French victory in the
Battle of Melle enabled their subsequent capture of Ghent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Melle>
1877:
The inaugural Wimbledon Championship, the world's oldest tennis
tournament, began.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1877_Wimbledon_Championship>
1900:
Queen Victoria gave her royal assent to an Act of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom, ratifying the Constitution of
Australia (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Australia>
1937:
Nitrate film being stored in a 20th Century Fox facility
spontaneously combusted, destroying more than 40,000 reels of negatives
and film prints.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937_Fox_vault_fire>
1995:
Sri Lankan Civil War: After having advised civilians to take
shelter in places of worship, the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed a church in
Navaly, killing at least 125 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navaly_church_bombing>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
on like Donkey Kong:
(chiefly US) An intensifier used in the same contexts as it's on, go
on, and other expressions using the word on, but to express greater
emphasis.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/on_like_Donkey_Kong>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In the time of the First Manifestation the Primal Will appeared in
Adam; in the day of Noah It became known in Noah; in the day of Abraham
in Him; and so in the day of Moses; the day of Jesus; the day of
Muḥammad, the Apostle of God; the day of the ‘Point of the
Bayán’; the day of Him Whom God shall make manifest; and the day of
the One Who will appear after Him Whom God shall make manifest. Hence
the inner meaning of the words uttered by the Apostle of God, "I am all
the Prophets", inasmuch as what shineth resplendent in each one of Them
hath been and will ever remain the one and the same sun.
--The Báb
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/B%C3%A1b>
Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve is a protected area in the
northern Siskiyou Mountains of southwestern Oregon near the California
border, managed since 1933 by the US National Park Service. The
4,554-acre (1,843 ha) park features a marble cave that was discovered
in 1874. Three years after President Theodore Roosevelt signed the
Antiquities Act of 1906, President William Howard Taft used it to
establish Oregon Caves. In 2014 the protected area was expanded by about
4,000 acres (1,600 ha) and designated a National Monument and Preserve.
Oregon Caves is a solutional cave, with passages totaling about 15,000
feet (4,600 m), formed in marble. The parent rock was originally
limestone that metamorphosed to marble during the geologic processes
that created the Klamath Mountains, including the Siskiyous. Although
the limestone formed about 190 million years ago, the cave itself is no
older than a few million years. Another attraction at the park is the
Oregon Caves Chateau, a six-story hotel built in a rustic style in 1934;
it is a National Historic Landmark and is part of the Oregon Caves
Historic District within the monument.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Caves_National_Monument_and_Preserve>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1709:
Great Northern War: Peter I of Russia defeated Charles XII of
Sweden in Poltava, effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in
Europe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Poltava>
1808:
Joseph Bonaparte approved the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter
intended as the basis for his rule as King of Spain during the
Peninsular War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonne_Statute>
1879:
Led by George W. De Long, the ill-fated Jeannette Expedition
departed San Francisco to reach the North Pole by pioneering a route
through the Bering Strait.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeannette_Expedition>
1947:
After various news agencies reported the capture of a "flying
disc" by U.S. Army Air Force personnel in Roswell, New Mexico, the
military stated that what was actually recovered was debris from an
experimental high-altitude surveillance weather balloon.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident>
1972:
Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani was assassinated by Mossad
agents in response to the Lod Airport massacre.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghassan_Kanafani>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
demiurge:
1. (Platonic philosophy) The (usually benevolent) being that created the
universe out of primal matter.
2. (Gnosticism) A (usually jealous or outright malevolent) being who is
inferior to the supreme being, and sometimes seen as the creator of
evil.
3. (figuratively) Something (such as an idea, individual or institution)
conceived as an autonomous creative force or decisive power.
4. (historical, Ancient Greece) The title of a magistrate in a number of
states of Ancient Greece, and in the city states (poleis) of the Achaean
League.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/demiurge>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear
is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our
darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be
brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not
to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the
world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people
will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as
children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is
within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let
our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the
same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically
liberates others.
--Marianne Williamson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marianne_Williamson>
The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. John
Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison were joined by Ringo Starr
two years later. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock and roll, they
later experimented with musical styles ranging from pop ballads and
Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. They incorporated classical
elements and unconventional recording techniques. Manager Brian Epstein
moulded them into a professional act, and producer George Martin guided
and developed their recordings. Beatlemania took hold in 1963, as the
group began to embody the ideals shared by the counterculture of the
1960s. They led the British Invasion of the US pop market in 1964. After
their break-up in 1970, they each enjoyed successful musical careers, in
which McCartney and Starr remain active. (Lennon was shot and killed in
1980; Harrison died of cancer in 2001.) The Beatles became the best-
selling band in history, with estimated sales of over 600 million
records worldwide, and they top various sales and most-played lists,
including most UK singles sold and most number-one hits on the Hot 100
chart.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1456:
Twenty-five years after her death, Joan of Arc was declared
innocent of heresy in a posthumous retrial.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrial_of_Joan_of_Arc>
1777:
American Revolutionary War: British forces caught up with
American troops withdrawing from Ticonderoga and captured over 200 men.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hubbardton>
1911:
The United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and Russia signed the
North Pacific Fur Seal Convention banning open-water seal hunting
(Northern fur seal pictured), the first international treaty to address
wildlife conservation issues.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pacific_Fur_Seal_Convention_of_1911>
1954:
After the culmination of the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état,
Carlos Castillo Armas was sworn in as President of Guatemala.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Castillo_Armas>
1997:
Iraqi Kurdish Civil War: The Turkish Armed Forces concluded
Operation Hammer, having successfully destroyed Kurdistan Workers' Party
units in Northern Iraq.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Hammer_(1997)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
floof:
1. (transitive, informal, often humorous) To make something fluffy, to
fluff (up).
2. (intransitive) To move in a floofy or fluffy manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/floof>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
One man's "magic" is another man's engineering. "Supernatural" is
a null word.
--Time Enough for Love
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Time_Enough_for_Love>
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July 6: Eega
by English Wikipedia Article of the Day
06 Jul '17
06 Jul '17
Eega (The Fly) is an Indian bilingual fantasy film released on 6 July
2012, written by K. V. Vijayendra Prasad and directed by his son, S. S.
Rajamouli. It was produced by Korrapati Ranganatha Sai's production
house Varahi Chalana Chitram with an estimated budget of ₹260 to 400
million, simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil. The film stars Sudeep, Nani
and Samantha Ruth Prabhu (pictured with the director). The narrative is
in the form of a bedtime story told by a father to his daughter. Its
protagonist is Nani, who is in love with his neighbour Bindu. Nani is
murdered by a wealthy businessman named Sudeep, who is attracted to
Bindu and considers Nani a rival. Nani reincarnates as a housefly and
tries to protect Bindu while avenging his death. The film's production
began in 2010 at Ramanaidu Studios in Hyderabad, and principal
photography ran from early 2011 to early 2012. The two versions of the
film, alongside a Malayalam-dubbed version titled Eecha, were released
globally on approximately 1,100 screens. Screened at international film
festivals, Eega won two National Film Awards, five Filmfare Awards, and
three South Indian International Movie Awards.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eega>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1614:
The Ottoman Empire made a final attempt to conquer the island
of Malta, but were beaten back by the Knights Hospitaller.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_of_%C5%BBejtun>
1892:
During a steelworkers' strike in Homestead, Pennsylvania, a
day-long battle between strikers and Pinkerton agents resulted in ten
deaths and dozens of people wounded.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Strike>
1919:
The Royal Air Force's R34 airship landed in Mineola, New York,
to complete the first east-to-west transatlantic crossing by an
aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R33-class_airship>
1957:
At a concert by The Quarrymen at the St. Peter's Church Woolton
Garden fête, band member John Lennon met Paul McCartney, triggering a
series of events that led to the forming of The Beatles.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quarrymen>
1997:
The Troubles: In response to the Drumcree dispute, five days of
unrest began in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_nationalist_riots_in_Northern_Ireland>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
blee:
1. (rare, chiefly poetic) Colour, hue.
2. (archaic) Colour of the face, complexion.
3. Consistency, form, texture.
4. (East Anglia) General resemblance, likeness; appearance, aspect, look.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blee>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Many of the issues that still trouble America have roots in the
bitter experience of other times. But however long the journey, our
destination is set: liberty and justice for all.
--George W. Bush
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_W._Bush>
Head VI is a 1949 painting by the Irish-born, English figurative artist
Francis Bacon. It is the last of six panels making up his "1949 Head"
series, which are largely modeled on Diego Velázquez's Portrait of
Innocent X. Applying forceful, expressive brush strokes, Bacon placed
the figure within a draped glass cage. The intended effect is of a man
trapped and suffocated by his surroundings, screaming into an airless
void. Head VI was the first of Bacon's paintings to reference
Velázquez, whose portrait of Pope Innocent X haunted Bacon and inspired
his series of over 45 "screaming popes". Head VI contains many
figurations that were to reappear throughout his career; the geometric
cages are present as late as the 1985–86 Study for a Self-
Portrait—Triptych. In 1949 Bacon was a highly controversial artist,
best known for his 1944 Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a
Crucifixion, and as the enfant terrible of British art. The curator
Lawrence Gowing wrote that the "shock of the picture, when it was seen
with a whole series of heads ... was indescribable. It was everything
unpardonable." Today the panel is considered among Bacon's finest.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_VI>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1775:
The Second Continental Congress of Britain's Thirteen Colonies
adopted the Olive Branch Petition in the hopes of avoiding war with
Great Britain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Branch_Petition>
1865:
Royal assent was given to an Act of Parliament allowing the
Talyllyn Railway to carry passengers by steam haulage – the first
narrow-gauge railway in Britain to do so from the start.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talyllyn_Railway>
1950:
Korean War: In the first encounter between North Korean and
American forces, the unprepared and undisciplined U.S. Army task force
was routed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Osan>
1977:
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrew Pakistani Prime Minister
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a military coup d'état.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Zia-ul-Haq>
2004:
Indonesia held its first direct presidential elections, which
resulted in the election of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as President of
Indonesia after the second round on September 20.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_presidential_election,_2004>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
suspension:
1. The act of suspending, or the state of being suspended.
2. A temporary or conditional delay, interruption or discontinuation.
3. The state of a solid or substance produced when its particles are mixed
with, but not dissolved in, a fluid, and are capable of separation by
straining.
4. The act of keeping a person who is listening in doubt and expectation of
what is to follow.
5. (education) The process of barring a student from school grounds as a
form of punishment.
6. (music) The act of or discord produced by prolonging one or more tones
of a chord into the chord which follows, thus producing a momentary
discord, suspending the concord which the ear expects. […]
7. (vehicles) The system of springs and shock absorbers connected to the
wheels in an automobile or car, which allows the vehicle to move
smoothly with reduced shock to its occupants.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/suspension>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Money is in some respects like fire; it is a very excellent
servant but a terrible master.
--P. T. Barnum
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._T._Barnum>
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport. After batters hit a thrown ball, they
and any teammates who are on a base can try to advance to another base,
scoring a run when they return to the home plate. The batting team hits
against the pitcher of the fielding team, which tries to get players out
(off the field), usually by striking them out, catching a hit ball,
throwing to a base that players have to run to, or tagging them with the
ball between bases. After three outs, the teams trade places, and after
three more, the next inning begins. Professional games last at least
into the ninth inning. Evolving from older bat-and-ball games, an early
form of baseball was being played in England by the mid-eighteenth
century. This game and the related rounders were brought by British and
Irish immigrants to North America, where the modern version of baseball
developed. By the late nineteenth century, baseball was widely
recognized as the national sport of the United States. Baseball has
become popular in North America and parts of Central and South America,
the Caribbean, and East Asia, particularly Japan.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
414:
Aelia Pulcheria proclaimed herself regent over her brother
Theodosius II and made herself Augusta and Empress of the Eastern Roman
Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulcheria>
1837:
The Grand Junction Railway, the world's first long-distance
railway, opened between Birmingham and Liverpool.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Junction_Railway>
1950:
The United States' anti-communist propaganda source Radio Free
Europe made its first broadcast aimed at Czechoslovakia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Europe/Radio_Liberty>
1982:
Four Iranian diplomats were kidnapped after they were stopped
at a checkpoint in northern Lebanon by Lebanese Phalange forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Iranian_diplomats_kidnapping>
2005:
The NASA space probe Deep Impact impacted the nucleus of the
comet Tempel 1 (impact pictured), excavating debris from its interior so
that its composition could be studied.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Impact_(spacecraft)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
vegetable lamb:
(mythology) A legendary plant believed to grow sheep from its branches.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vegetable_lamb>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with
another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and
equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle
them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they
should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
--The US Declaration of Independence
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence>
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July 3: Castle
by English Wikipedia Article of the Day
03 Jul '17
03 Jul '17
A castle is a type of fortified structure, generally built in Europe and
the Middle East during the Middle Ages. Usually the private residences
of lords and nobles, castles ranged from hill forts and country houses
to expansive keeps surrounded by curtain walls and fortified towers.
After the fall of the Carolingian Empire in the ninth century, castles
were used for defence, as bases for raiders, as centres of
administration, and for controlling trade routes. As symbols of power,
some grand castles had long winding approaches that dominated their
landscape. In the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a scientific
approach to castle defence emerged, leading to the proliferation of
towers, with an emphasis on flanking fire. Many new castles were
polygonal or relied on concentric stages of defence that could all
function at the same time. Castle building began to decline in the
15th century, when artillery became powerful enough to break through
stone walls. In the 18th and 19th centuries, mock castles with no
military purpose epitomized the Romantic revival of Gothic architecture.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
324:
Roman emperor Constantine the Great defeated former colleague
Licinius in the Battle of Adrianople.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Adrianople_(324)>
1863:
Pickett's Charge, a futile Confederate infantry assault against
Union Army positions, occurred during the final and bloodiest day of
fighting in the Battle of Gettysburg, marking a turning point in the
American Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickett%27s_Charge>
1940:
Second World War: The British Navy attacked the French fleet
(French destroyer Mogador pictured), fearing that the ships would fall
into German hands after the armistice between those two nations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Mers-el-K%C3%A9bir>
1970:
The Troubles: The British Army imposed the Falls Curfew on
Belfast, Northern Ireland, which only resulted in greater Irish
republican resistance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falls_Curfew>
2005:
Same-sex marriage became legal in Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_Spain>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
coupist:
One who takes part in a coup d'état.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coupist>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
There is nothing besides a spiritual world; what we call the world
of the senses is the Evil in the spiritual world, and what we call Evil
is only the necessity of a moment in our eternal evolution. One can
disintegrate the world by means of very strong light. For weak eyes the
world becomes solid, for still weaker eyes it seems to develop fists,
for eyes weaker still it becomes shamefaced and smashes anyone who dares
to gaze upon it.
--Franz Kafka
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka>
The grey jay (Perisoreus canadensis) is a bird of the crow family,
Corvidae. It is found in boreal forests of North America north to the
tree line, and in the Rocky Mountains subalpine zone south to New Mexico
and Arizona. A fairly large songbird, it has pale grey underparts,
darker grey upperparts, and a grey-white head with a darker grey nape.
Grey jays live on permanent territories in coniferous forests, surviving
in winter months on food cached throughout their territory in warmer
periods. The birds form monogamous mating pairs, accompanied by a
juvenile from the previous season. Grey jays adapt to human activity in
their territories and may approach humans for food. The species is
associated with mythological figures of several First Nations cultures,
including Wisakedjak, a benevolent figure whose name was anglicized to
whisky jack, another name for the bird. In 2016, an expert panel and
online poll conducted by Canadian Geographic magazine recommended the
grey jay as the national bird of Canada.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_jay>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
626:
During the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Prince Li Shimin led his forces
to assassinate his rival brothers in a coup for the imperial throne of
the Tang dynasty.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanwu_Gate_Incident>
1644:
The combined forces of the Scottish Covenanters and the English
Parliamentarians defeated the Royalists at the Battle of Marston Moor,
one of the decisive encounters of the English Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marston_Moor>
1816:
The French frigate Méduse ran aground off the coast of
today's Mauritania, with the survivors escaping on a makeshift raft,
which was depicted in Théodore Géricault's painting The Raft of the
Medusa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raft_of_the_Medusa>
1917:
White residents of East St. Louis, Illinois, burned sections of
the city and shot black inhabitants as they escaped the flames.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_St._Louis_riots>
1937:
Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan
disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during an attempt to make a
circumnavigational flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
malapert:
(archaic) Cheeky, impudent, saucy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/malapert>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I feared that the enemy might have nearly surrounded the Little
Round Top, and only a desperate chance was left for us. My ammunition
was soon exhausted. My men were firing their last shot and getting ready
to "club" their muskets. It was imperative to strike before we were
struck by this overwhelming force in a hand-to-hand fight, which we
could not probably have withstood or survived. At that crisis, I ordered
the bayonet. The word was enough.
--Joshua Chamberlain
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joshua_Chamberlain>