The Cape sparrow (Passer melanurus) is a southern African bird. A
medium-sized sparrow at 14–16 centimetres (5.5–6.3 in), it has
distinctive grey, brown, and chestnut plumage, with large pale head
stripes in both sexes. The male has some bold black and white markings
on its head and neck. The species inhabits semi-arid savannah,
cultivated areas, and towns, from the central coast of Angola to eastern
South Africa and Swaziland. Cape sparrows primarily eat seeds, along
with soft plant parts and insects. They typically breed in colonies, and
search for food in large nomadic flocks. The nest can be constructed in
a tree, bush, cavity, or disused nest of another species. A typical
clutch contains three or four eggs, and both parents are involved, from
nest building to feeding the young. The species is common in most of its
range and coexists successfully in urban habitats with two of its
relatives, the native southern grey-headed sparrow and the house
sparrow, an introduced species. The Cape sparrow's population has not
decreased significantly, and is not seriously threatened by human
activities.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_sparrow>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
314:
Sylvester I, during whose pontificate many churches in Rome were
constructed by Emperor Constantine I, began his reign as pope.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Sylvester_I>
1578:
Eighty Years' War: Spain won a crushing victory in the Battle
of Gembloux, leading to a break up of the United Seventeen Provinces,
leading to a division of the Netherlands in the Union of Arras (Catholic
South) and Union of Utrecht (Protestant North).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gembloux_(1578)>
1945:
Second World War: The British 3rd Commando Brigade's victory in
the Battle of Hill 170 was important in causing the 28th Japanese Army
to withdraw from the Arakan peninsula of Burma.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hill_170>
1957:
A Douglas DC-7B operated by Douglas Aircraft collided in mid-
air with a U.S. Air Force F-89 and crashed into a schoolyard in Pacoima,
California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957_Pacoima_mid-air_collision>
1999:
Cher sings the "Star-Spangled Banner" at Super Bowl XXXIII.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cher>
2013:
A gas leak underneath the Pemex Executive Tower in Mexico City
caused an explosion (damage pictured) that killed at least 37 people and
injured another 126.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torre_Ejecutiva_Pemex_explosion>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
deep state:
(politics, conspiracy theories) A large group of people, typically
members of government agencies and the military, believed to have long-
lasting political influence that is difficult for an administration
voted into power to counter.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deep_state>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We live in a time which has created the art of the absurd. It is
our art. It contains happenings, Pop art, camp, a theater of the absurd
... Do we have the art because the absurd is the patina of waste...? Or
are we face to face with a desperate or most rational effort from the
deepest resources of the unconscious of us all to rescue civilization
from the pit and plague of its bedding?
--Norman Mailer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Norman_Mailer>
Oviri is an 1894 ceramic sculpture by the French artist Paul Gauguin. It
depicts a Tahitian goddess of mourning, with long pale hair, large
breasts, and wild eyes. She smothers a wolf with her feet, while
clutching a cub in her arms. Art historians have suggested multiple
complex interpretations; its alternative title, "Savage", may refer to
Gauguin's own view of himself. The work's form and tone was inspired by
a number of ancient sources, including Majapahit mummies and an Assyrian
relief of a master of animals. Other possible influences include
preserved skulls from the Marquesas Islands, figures found at Borobudur,
and a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in central Java. Gauguin made
three casts, each in partially glazed stoneware. The original is housed
at the Musée d'Orsay, in France. It was exhibited at the 1906 Salon
d'Automne where it was seen by Pablo Picasso, who used it as the basis
for one of the figures in his Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oviri_(Gauguin)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1018:
The German–Polish War ended with the signing of the Peace of
Bautzen between Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Piast ruler of
Poland, Bolesław I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Bautzen>
1607:
Low-lying places around the coasts of the Bristol Channel of
Britain were flooded, possibly by a tsunami, resulting in an estimated
2,000 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Channel_floods,_1607>
1948:
Nathuram Godse fatally shot Mahatma Gandhi, the political and
spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement, at Birla
House in Delhi.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi>
1968:
Vietnam War: Forces of the Viet Cong and the Vietnamese
People's Army launched the Tet Offensive to strike military and civilian
command and control centers throughout South Vietnam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tet_Offensive>
2000:
Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near
Côte d'Ivoire shortly after takeoff, killing 169 on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenya_Airways_Flight_431>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
soft-spoken:
Having a pleasant, gentle, mild manner of speech; speaking gently or
quietly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/soft-spoken>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the
fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.
--Franklin D. Roosevelt
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt>
In the Baltimore railroad strike of 1877, at least ten people were
killed and more than 150 were injured. The unrest in Baltimore,
Maryland, was part of a national railroad strike, following the global
depression and economic downturns of the mid-1870s. On July 16, when the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O;) scheduled 10 percent wage reductions,
strikes broke out. Violence erupted in Baltimore on July 20, and police
and soldiers of the Maryland National Guard clashed with crowds of
thousands gathered throughout the city. In response, President
Rutherford B. Hayes ordered federal troops to Baltimore, local officials
recruited as many as 500 additional police, and two new national guard
regiments were formed. Peace was restored two days later. Negotiations
between strikers and the B&O; were unsuccessful, and most strikers quit
rather than return to work at reduced wages. The company easily found
workers to replace the strikers, and rail traffic resumed on July 29
under the protection of the military and police.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_railroad_strike_of_1877>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1845:
American poet Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" (illustrated)
appeared in the The Evening Mirror, its first publication attributed to
Poe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven>
1856:
Queen Victoria established the Victoria Cross, originally to
recognise acts of valour by British military personnel during the
Crimean War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Cross>
1943:
World War II: The Battle of Rennell Island, the last major
naval engagement between the United States Navy and the Imperial
Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal Campaign, began.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rennell_Island>
1991:
The Battle of Khafji, the first major ground engagement of the
Gulf War, began with Iraq's invasion of the Saudi Arabian city of
Khafji.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Khafji>
2017:
A lone gunman carried out a mass shooting at a mosque in Quebec
City, Canada, killing six people and injuring nineteen others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City_mosque_shooting>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
careworn:
Showing the signs of long-term stress; tired and haggard due to
prolonged worry.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/careworn>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We're all undesirable elements from somebody's point of view.
--Edward Abbey
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Abbey>
Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi is a fourth-century Latin poem
arranged by Faltonia Betitia Proba after her conversion to Christianity.
A cento rearranges verses written by other poets; this one repurposes
Virgil to tell stories from the Old and New Testament of the Christian
Bible. Much of the work focuses on the story of Jesus Christ. The poem
was widely circulated, eventually being used in schools to teach the
tenets of Christianity, often alongside Augustine of Hippo's De Doctrina
Christiana. Although the poem was popular, critical reception was mixed.
A pseudonymous work purportedly by Pope Gelasius I disparaged the poem,
deeming it apocryphal, and St. Jerome may have written disapprovingly of
it, and of Proba. Other thinkers like Isidore of Seville, Petrarch, and
Giovanni Boccaccio wrote highly of her, and many praised her ingenuity.
During the 19th and 20th centuries the poem was considered a work of
poor quality, but recent scholars have held it in higher regard.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cento_Vergilianus_de_laudibus_Christi>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1568:
Delegates of the Three Nations of Transylvania adopted the
Edict of Torda, allowing local communities to freely elect their
preachers in an unprecedented act of religious tolerance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Torda>
1813:
The novel Pride and Prejudice by English author Jane Austen was
published, using material from an unpublished manuscript that she
originally wrote between 1796 and 1797.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice>
1933:
Choudhry Rahmat Ali published a pamphlet entitled "Now or
Never" in which he called for the creation of a Muslim state in
northwest India that he termed "Pakstan".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_Declaration>
1958:
The Lego Group, a Danish toy company, patented the design of
Lego bricks (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego>
1984:
Tropical Storm Domoina made landfall in southern Mozambique,
causing some of the most severe flooding recorded in the region.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Domoina>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
if anything:
1. (idiomatic) Used after a negative statement to suggest the opposite is
true.
2. (idiomatic) Used to suggest or state tentatively that something may be
the case (often the opposite of something previously implied).
3. (idiomatic) Used in questions when the speaker does not know for sure if
the listener will have an answer.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/if_anything>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
One must have faith in the best in men and distrust the worst. One
must allow the best to be shown so that it reveals and prevails over the
worst. Nations should have a pillory for whoever stirs up useless hate,
and another for whoever fails to tell them the truth in time.
--José Martí
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mart%C3%AD>
The Finnish Civil War (27 January – 15 May 1918) marked the transition
from the Grand Duchy of Finland, part of the Russian Empire, to an
independent state. Arising during World War I, it was fought between the
Reds, led by the Social Democratic Party, and the Whites, led by the
conservative Senate. In February 1918, the Reds carried out an
unsuccessful offensive, supplied with weapons by Soviet Russia. A
counteroffensive by the Whites began in March, reinforced by the German
Empire's military detachments in April. The decisive engagements were
the battles of Tampere and Vyborg, won by the Whites, and the battles of
Helsinki and Lahti, won by German troops, leading to overall victory for
the Whites and the German forces. The 39,000 casualties included
political terror deaths. Although the Senate and Parliament were
initially pressured into accepting the brother-in-law of German Emperor
William II as the King of Finland, the country emerged within a few
months as an independent, democratic republic. The war would divide the
nation for decades.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Civil_War>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
98:
Trajan (bust pictured) succeeded his adoptive father Nerva as
Roman emperor; under his rule the Roman Empire reached its maximum
extent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trajan>
1343:
Pope Clement VI issued the papal bull Unigenitus to justify the
power of the pope and the use of indulgences.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Clement_VI>
1974:
The Brisbane River, which runs through the heart of Brisbane,
broke its banks and flooded the surrounding areas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_Brisbane_flood>
1980:
With the assistance of Canadian government officials, six
American diplomats who had avoided capture in the Iran hostage crisis
escaped to Zürich, Switzerland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Caper>
2010:
Porfirio Lobo Sosa became the new President of Honduras, ending
the constitutional crisis that had begun in 2009 when Manuel Zelaya was
forcibly removed from office.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Honduran_constitutional_crisis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
community:
1. (countable) A group sharing a common understanding, and often the same
language, law, manners, and/or tradition.
2. (countable) A residential or religious collective; a commune.
3. (countable, ecology) A group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the
same region and interacting with each other.
4. (countable, Internet) A group of people interacting by electronic means
for educational, professional, social, or other purposes; a virtual
community.
5. (uncountable) The condition of having certain attitudes and interests in
common.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/community>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To call the world nuclear situation dire is to understate the
danger — and its immediacy. … Beyond the nuclear and climate
domains, technological change is disrupting democracies around the world
as states seek and exploit opportunities to use information technologies
as weapons, among them internet-based deception campaigns aimed at
undermining elections and popular confidence in institutions essential
to free thought and global security. … International diplomacy has
been reduced to name-calling, giving it a surreal sense of unreality
that makes the world security situation ever more threatening. Because
of the extraordinary danger of the current moment, the Science and
Security Board today moves the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock 30
seconds closer to catastrophe. It is now two minutes to midnight — the
closest the Clock has ever been to Doomsday, and as close as it was in
1953, at the height of the Cold War.
--Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bulletin_of_the_Atomic_Scientists>
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) comprises all of the country's armed
forces, including the Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army, and Royal
Australian Air Force. With a strength of just under 80,000 full-time
personnel and active reservists, it is supported by the Department of
Defence and other civilian agencies. During the first decades of the
20th century, the Australian Government established the armed services
as separate organisations, each with an independent chain of command. In
1976, the government made a strategic change and established the ADF to
place the three services under a single headquarters. The degree of
integration has increased over time, and tri-service headquarters,
logistics and training institutions have supplanted many single-service
establishments. Technologically sophisticated, the ADF is the largest
military in Oceania, with approximately 58,000 full-time active-duty
personnel and 22,000 active reservists. It is smaller than many Asian
militaries, but is supported by a significant budget by worldwide
standards and can deploy forces in multiple locations outside Australia.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Defence_Force>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
661:
The Rashidun Caliphate was effectively ended with the
assassination of Ali, the last Rashidun caliph.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Ali>
1700:
The Cascadia earthquake, with an estimated magnitude of 9.0,
took place off the Pacific coast of the American Northwest, as evidenced
by Japanese records of tsunamis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1700_Cascadia_earthquake>
1841:
Commodore James Bremer took formal possession of Hong Kong
Island for Great Britain at Possession Point.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bremer>
1952:
Spontaneous anti-British riots erupted in Cairo following the
killings of 50 Egyptian auxiliary police the day before.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_fire>
1998:
In a nationally televised press conference (video featured),
U.S. President Bill Clinton denied having "sexual relations" with intern
Monica Lewinsky.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton%E2%80%93Lewinsky_scandal>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
drop bear:
(cryptozoology) A fictional Australian marsupial in the form of a large,
carnivorous koala said to fall upon its prey from treetops.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drop_bear>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Men since the beginning of time have sought peace. Various methods
through the ages have been attempted to devise an international process
to prevent or settle disputes between nations. From the very start
workable methods were found in so far as individual citizens were
concerned, but the mechanics of an instrumentality of larger
international scope have never been successful. Military alliances,
balances of power, Leagues of Nations, all in turn failed, leaving the
only path to be by way of the crucible of war. The utter destructiveness
of war now blocks out this alternative. We have had our last chance. If
we will not devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon
will be at our door.
--Douglas MacArthur
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Douglas_MacArthur>
Lycoperdon perlatum, the common puffball, is a widespread species of
fungus in the family Agaricaceae. It forms an off-white medium-sized
puffball tapering to a wide stalk, 1.5 to 6 cm (0.6 to 2.4 in) wide by
3 to 10 cm (1.2 to 3.9 in) tall. Its top is covered in short spiny
bumps that are easily rubbed off to leave a net-like pattern on the
surface. When mature it becomes brown, and a hole in the top opens to
release spores in a burst when the body is compressed by touch or
falling raindrops. It is edible when the young internal flesh is
completely white, but can be mistaken for an immature fruit body of
several poisonous Amanita species. L. perlatum can usually be
distinguished from similar puffballs by differences in surface texture.
Its chemical compounds include the unusual amino acid lycoperdic acid
and volatile sterol derivatives that give the puffball its flavor and
odor. Laboratory tests indicate that extracts of the puffball have
antimicrobial and antifungal activities.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycoperdon_perlatum>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1533:
Anne Boleyn, already pregnant with future queen Elizabeth,
secretly married Henry VIII of England, the second of his six
marriages.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Boleyn>
1890:
American journalist Nellie Bly completed a circumnavigation of
the globe, inspired by Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, in
a then-record 72 days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly>
1971:
Idi Amin seized power in a military coup d'état from President
Milton Obote, beginning eight years of military rule in Uganda.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin>
1993:
Five people were shot outside the Central Intelligence Agency
headquarters in Langley, Virginia, resulting in two deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_shootings_at_CIA_Headquarters>
2004:
Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity (artist's impression
pictured) landed on Mars and rolled into Eagle crater, a small crater on
the Meridiani Planum.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_(rover)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
haggis:
A traditional Scottish dish made from minced sheep offal with oatmeal
and spices, etc., originally boiled in the stomach of a sheep but now
often in an artificial casing, and usually served with neeps and tatties
(mashed swede and potatoes) and accompanied with whisky.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/haggis>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is notorious that illusions are shattered by conflict with
reality, so no real happiness, no real wit, no real profundity are
tolerated where the illusion prevails.
--Orlando: A Biography
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orlando:_A_Biography>
August Meyszner (3 August 1886 – 24 January 1947) was an Austrian
gendarmerie officer, right-wing politician, and senior Ordnungspolizei
(order police) officer of Nazi Germany. He held the post of Higher SS
and Police Leader in the German-occupied territory of Serbia from
January 1942 to March 1944, during World War II. During his tenure, he
oversaw regular reprisal killings and sent tens of thousands of forced
labourers to Germany and occupied Norway. His Gestapo detachment also
used a gas van to kill as many as 8,000 Jewish women and children who
had been detained at the Sajmište concentration camp. Meyszner's time
in Belgrade was characterised by friction and competition with German
military, economic and foreign affairs officials, and by his visceral
hatred and distrust of Serbs; he was considered one of Reichsführer-SS
Heinrich Himmler's most brutal subordinates. Extradited by the Allies to
Yugoslavia after the war, he was found guilty of war crimes by a
military court, and was executed by hanging on 24 January 1947.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Meyszner>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1458:
The 14-year-old Matthias Corvinus was unanimously proclaimed
King of Hungary after the Estates were persuaded to do so by his uncle
Michael Szilágyi.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_Corvinus>
1848:
James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill
(reconstruction pictured) in Coloma, California, leading to the
California Gold Rush.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush>
1915:
First World War: British Grand Fleet ships surprised a German
High Seas Fleet squadron in the North Sea, forcing the latter to
retreat.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dogger_Bank_(1915)>
1968:
Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launched Operation
Coburg against the North Vietnamese army and Viet Cong during wider
fighting around Long Binh and Biên Hòa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Coburg>
1990:
Japan launched the Hiten spacecraft, the first lunar probe
launched by a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiten>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
swarf:
1. (uncountable) The waste chips or shavings from an abrasive activity,
such as metalworking, a saw cutting wood, or the use of a grindstone or
whetstone.
2. (countable) A particular waste chip or shaving.
3. (transitive) To grind down. […]
4. (intransitive, Scotland, obsolete) To grow languid; to faint.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/swarf>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Light is the left hand of darkness and darkness the right hand of
light. Two are one, life and death, lying together like lovers in
kemmer, like hands joined together, like the end and the way.
--Ursula K. Le Guin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin>
Candaules, King of Lydia, Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges, One of his
Ministers, as She Goes to Bed is a painting by English artist William
Etty, first exhibited in 1830. It shows a scene from the Histories by
Herodotus, in which Candaules, king of Lydia, invites his bodyguard
Gyges to hide in the couple's bedroom and watch his wife Nyssia undress.
After Nyssia notices Gyges, he kills Candaules and takes his place as
king. The painting shows the moment at which Nyssia, unaware of Gyges,
removes the last of her clothes. Etty hoped to impart the moral that
women are not chattels and that men violating their rights should be
punished, but he made little effort to explain this to audiences. The
painting was immediately controversial, seen as a cynical combination of
pornography and a violent unpleasant narrative, and critics condemned it
as an immoral work of the type they would not expect from a British
artist. In 1929 it was among several artworks transferred to the newly
expanded Tate Gallery, where it remains.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candaules,_King_of_Lydia,_Shews_his_Wife_by_S…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1556:
The deadliest earthquake in history killed about 830,000 people
in Shaanxi Province, China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1556_Shaanxi_earthquake>
1793:
The Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia partitioned the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth for the second time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Partition_of_Poland>
1915:
The Chilembwe uprising, regarded as a key moment in the history
of Malawi, began as rebels, led by a minister, attacked local plantation
owners.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilembwe_uprising>
1942:
World War II: Japan began its invasion of the island of New
Britain in the Australian Territory of New Guinea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rabaul_(1942)>
1968:
USS Pueblo was seized by North Korean forces, who claimed that
it had violated their territorial waters while spying.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pueblo_(AGER-2)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
glossolalia:
1. Speaking a language one does not know, or speaking elaborate but
apparently meaningless speech, while in a trance-like state (or,
supposedly, under the influence of a deity or spirits); speaking in
tongues.
2. Xenoglossy (“knowledge of a language one has never learned”).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glossolalia>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
He had never seen a "Fallout," and he hoped he'd never see one. A
consistent description of the monster had not survived, but Francis had
heard the legends. … Brother Francis visualized a Fallout as half-
salamander, because, according to tradition, the thing was born in the
Flame Deluge, and as half-incubus who despoiled virgins in their sleep,
for, were not the monsters of the world still called "children of the
Fallout"? That the demon was capable of inflicting all the woes which
descended upon Job was recorded fact, if not an article of creed.
--Walter M. Miller, Jr.
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_M._Miller,_Jr.>
The S-50 Project was the Manhattan Project's effort to produce enriched
uranium by liquid thermal diffusion during World War II. The process was
developed by Philip H. Abelson and other scientists at the United States
Naval Research Laboratory, and was one of three technologies for uranium
enrichment pursued by the Manhattan Project. Pilot plants were built at
the Anacostia Naval Air Station and the Philadelphia Navy Yard. A
facility at the Clinton Engineer Works in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was the
only production-scale liquid thermal diffusion plant ever built. It
could not enrich uranium sufficiently for use in an atomic bomb, but it
could begin the process of enrichment that was completed by the Y-12
calutrons and the K-25 gaseous diffusion plants. It sped up the
production of enriched uranium for the Little Boy bomb used in the
atomic bombing of Hiroshima. This plant ceased production in September
1945, but was reopened in May 1946, and used by the Nuclear Energy for
the Propulsion of Aircraft project of the US Army Air Forces before
being demolished in the late 1940s.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-50_(Manhattan_Project)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
565:
Justinian the Great deposed Eutychius, Patriarch of
Constantinople, after the latter refused the Byzantine Emperor's order
to adopt the tenets of the Aphthartodocetae, a sect of Monophysites.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutychius_of_Constantinople>
1689:
The Convention Parliament convened to justify the overthrow of
James II, the last Roman Catholic King of England, who had vacated the
throne when he fled to France in 1688.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_II_of_England>
1905:
Russian Revolution: Peaceful demonstrators, led by Father
Gapon, a Russian Orthodox priest, were massacred outside the Winter
Palace in St. Petersburg.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1905)>
1924:
Ramsay MacDonald took office as the first British Prime
Minister from the Labour Party.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsay_MacDonald>
1970:
The Boeing 747, the world's first widebody commercial airliner,
entered service for Pam Am on the New York–London route.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tickety-boo:
(chiefly Britain, informal) Correct, satisfactory.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tickety-boo>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The logic now in use serves rather to fix and give stability to
the errors which have their foundation in commonly received notions than
to help the search for truth. So it does more harm than good.
--Francis Bacon
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon>