The Louisiana Purchase Exposition dollar was a commemorative gold coin
series dated 1903. The coins were designed by Charles E. Barber, Chief
Engraver of the United States Bureau of the Mint. The pieces were issued
to promote the Louisiana Purchase Exposition held in 1904 in St. Louis.
They were struck in two varieties at the urging of exposition
authorities, including numismatic promoter Farran Zerbe: one depicted
former president Thomas Jefferson, and the other, the recently
assassinated president William McKinley. The price for each variety was
$3, the same cost whether sold as a coin, or mounted in jewelry or on a
spoon. Although not the first American commemorative coins, they were
the first in gold. They were intended to help fund the Exposition,
originally scheduled to open in 1903. Congress authorized the coins in
1902, but they did not sell well, and most were later melted. They
regained their issue price by 1915, and are now worth between a few
hundred and several thousand dollars, depending on condition.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase_Exposition_dollar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
313:
By defeating the armies of his rival Maximinus II, Roman emperor
Licinius unified the eastern half of the empire under his rule.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licinius>
1598:
King Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes, granting
freedom of religion to the Huguenots.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Nantes>
1803:
The United States purchased France's claim to the Louisiana
Territory (flag raising ceremony pictured) for 78 million francs, or
less than US$.03 per acre ($.07/ha).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase>
1943:
Second World War: The Royal Navy submarine HMS Seraph began
Operation Mincemeat to deceive Germany about the upcoming invasion of
Sicily.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat>
2009:
A gunman went on a shooting spree at the Azerbaijan State Oil
Academy, a public university in Baku, killing 12 people before
committing suicide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan_State_Oil_Academy_shooting>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sudorific:
1. In a state of perspiration; covered in sweat; sudoriferous, sweaty.
2. (chiefly pharmacology) That produces sweating.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sudorific>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We don’t think the world can be Woodstock … Who’d think the
world could be a perpetual carnival? But we do think that the world
could rediscover values that used to be automatically produced by
culture but aren’t anymore because culture is subject to the
commodification in our world. Everything is sold back to us, targeted to
demographics. What we have to do is make progress in the quality of
connection between people, not the quantity of consumption.
--Larry Harvey
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Larry_Harvey>
Subfossil lemurs are primates from Madagascar, especially the extinct
giant lemurs, represented by subfossils (partially fossilized remains)
dating from nearly 26,000 to around 560 years ago. Almost all of these
species, including the sloth lemurs, koala lemurs and monkey lemurs,
were living around 2,000 years ago, when humans first arrived on the
island. The extinct species are estimated to have ranged in size from
slightly over 10 kg (22 lb) to roughly 160 kg (350 lb). The
subfossil sites found around most of the island demonstrate that most
giant lemurs had wide distributions. Like living lemurs, they had poor
day vision and relatively small brains, and developed rapidly, but they
relied less on leaping, and more on terrestrial locomotion, slow
climbing, and suspension. Although no recent remains of giant lemurs
have been found, oral traditions and reported recent sightings by
Malagasy villagers suggest that there may be lingering populations or
very recent extinctions.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subfossil_lemur>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1770:
British explorer James Cook and the crew of HMS Endeavour
(replica pictured), the first European ship to land in eastern
Australia, reached the coast of Botany Bay near present-day Sydney.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Endeavour>
1910:
The Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the People's
Budget, the first budget in British history with the expressed intent of
redistributing wealth among the British public.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Budget>
1968:
The controversial musical Hair, a product of the hippie
counterculture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, opened at the
Biltmore Theatre on Broadway, with its songs becoming anthems of the
anti-Vietnam War movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_(musical)>
1992:
The acquittal of policemen who had beaten African-American
motorist Rodney King sparked six days of civil unrest in Los Angeles,
during which 63 people were killed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots>
2015:
The ringleaders of the Bali Nine were executed in Indonesia for
attempting to smuggle 8.3 kilograms (18 lb) of heroin to Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bali_Nine>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fraudulence:
The condition of being fraudulent; deceitfulness.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fraudulence>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I look before me at my lighted candles, I don’t want to turn
around and see with horror How quickly the dark line is lengthening,
How quickly the candles multiply that have been put out.
--Constantine P. Cavafy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Constantine_P._Cavafy>
The 1923 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Bolton
Wanderers and West Ham United on 28 April, the first to be played at the
original Wembley Stadium in London. This Football Association Challenge
Cup (FA Cup), the showpiece match of English football's primary cup
competition, drew a chaotic crowd of up to 300,000, far exceeding the
stadium's official capacity of around 125,000. Mounted policemen,
including one on a light-coloured horse (pictured) that became the
defining image of the day, had to be brought in to clear the crowds from
the pitch. (The match is still referred to as the "White Horse Final".)
Although West Ham started strongly, Bolton proved the dominant team for
most of the match and won 2–0. David Jack scored a goal two minutes
after the start of the match and Jack Smith added a controversial second
goal during the second half. The pre-match events prompted discussion in
the House of Commons and led to the introduction of safety measures for
future finals.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1923_FA_Cup_Final>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1253:
Nichiren, a Japanese monk, expounded Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō
for the first time and declared it to be the essence of Buddhism, in
effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nichiren_Buddhism>
1789:
About 1,300 miles (2,100 km) west of Tahiti, Fletcher
Christian, acting lieutenant on board the Royal Navy ship Bounty, led a
mutiny against the commander, William Bligh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty>
1941:
Presaging a campaign of genocide against Serbs of Croatia, the
Ustashe movement massacred around 190 people in Gudovac.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudovac_massacre>
1988:
Aloha Airlines Flight 243 suffered an explosive decompression
in flight between Hilo and Honolulu, Hawaii, with one fatality as a
flight attendant was ejected from the aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloha_Airlines_Flight_243>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
do ill:
(idiomatic) To harm, to injure.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/do_ill>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Do you know what it feels like to be aware of every star, every
blade of grass? Yes. You do. You call it "opening your eyes again." But
you do it for a moment. We have done it for eternity. No sleep, no rest,
just endless … endless experience, endless awareness. Of everything.
All the time. How we envy you, envy you! Lucky humans, who can close
your minds to the endless deeps of space! You have this thing you call
… boredom? That is the rarest talent in the universe! We heard a song
— it went "Twinkle twinkle little star …" What power! What wondrous
power! You can take a billion trillion tons of flaming matter, a furnace
of unimaginable strength, and turn it into a little song for children!
You build little worlds, little stories, little shells around your
minds, and that keeps infinity at bay and allows you to wake up in the
morning without screaming!
--A Hat Full of Sky
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Discworld#A_Hat_Full_of_Sky_(2004)>
Gomphus clavatus, the violet chanterelle, is an edible species of fungus
native to Eurasia and North America. The fruit body is vase- or fan-
shaped with wavy edges on its rim, and grows up to 15 cm (6 in) wide
and 17 cm (6 3⁄4 in) tall. The upper surface or cap is orangish-
brown to lilac, while the lower spore-bearing surface, the hymenium, is
covered in wrinkles and ridges rather than gills or pores, and is a
distinctive purple color. Described by Jacob Christian Schäffer in
1774, it is found in coniferous forests and is associated particularly
with spruces and firs. It is more common at elevations of greater than
2,000 ft (600 m), in moist, shady areas with plenty of leaf litter.
Although widespread, G. clavatus has become rare in many parts of
Europe and extinct in the British Isles. It is on the national Red Lists
of threatened fungi in 17 European countries and is one of 33 species
proposed for international conservation under the Bern Convention.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomphus_clavatus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
395:
Aelia Eudoxia married Byzantine emperor Arcadius without the
knowledge or consent of Rufinus, the Praetorian prefect who had intended
for his own daughter to wed the emperor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aelia_Eudoxia>
1521:
Filipino natives led by chieftain Lapu-Lapu killed Portuguese
explorer Ferdinand Magellan at the Battle of Mactan (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapu-Lapu>
1777:
American Revolutionary War: British Army regulars defeated
Patriot militias in the Battle of Ridgefield, galvanizing resistance in
the Connecticut Colony.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ridgefield>
1967:
The Expo 67 world's fair opened in Montreal, with 62 nations
participating and more than 50 million visitors ultimately attending.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_67>
1993:
Thirty people died, including players and staff of the Zambia
football team and the crew, in a plane crash en route to play a World
Cup qualifying match against Senegal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Zambia_national_football_team_plane_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ghost town:
1. A town which has become deserted, usually due to failing economic
activity, especially one that still has substantial visible remains.
2. (figuratively) Anything that has been deserted or abandoned, or has been
empty all along.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ghost_town>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I now hold omnipotence. What should I do with such almighty
power? The answer to that is actually quite simple: Anything I want.
Anything. I am incapable of error. Any result that displeases me I can
simply reverse. There is nothing I need to worry on, for I am Thanos.
And Thanos is supreme.
--Jim Starlin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jim_Starlin>
Dubrovnik was a flotilla leader built for the Royal Yugoslav Navy by
Yarrow Shipbuilders in Glasgow in 1930 and 1931. One of the largest
destroyers of the time, she was a fast ship with a main armament of four
Czechoslovak-built Škoda 140 mm (5.5 in) guns in single mounts.
During the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941,
Dubrovnik was captured by the Italians. After a refit, she was
commissioned into the Royal Italian Navy as Premuda. In June 1942, she
joined the Italian force that attacked the Allied Operation Harpoon
convoy attempting to relieve the island of Malta. Premuda was the most
important and effective Italian war prize ship of World War II. After
the Italian surrender to the Allies in September 1943, the destroyer was
seized by Germany and commissioned into the German Navy as TA32. In
March 1945, the ship took part in the Battle of the Ligurian Sea against
two Royal Navy destroyers. She was scuttled the following month as the
Germans retreated from Genoa.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslav_destroyer_Dubrovnik>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1478:
In a conspiracy to replace the Medici family as rulers of the
Florentine Republic, the Pazzi family attacked Lorenzo de' Medici and
killed his brother Giuliano during High Mass.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pazzi>
1865:
U.S. Army soldiers cornered and fatally shot John Wilkes Booth,
the assassin of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, in rural northern
Virginia, ending a twelve-day manhunt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkes_Booth>
1958:
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue, one of the first
major railway electrification systems in the U.S., made its final run.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Blue_(train)>
1970:
The World Intellectual Property Organization came into being
when its convention entered into force.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Intellectual_Property_Organization>
1994:
Just prior to landing at Nagoya International Airport, the
copilot of China Airlines Flight 140 inadvertently pushed the wrong
button, causing the plane to crash and killing 264 of the 271 people on
board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_140>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
kenning:
1. (obsolete) Sight, view; specifically a distant view at sea.
2. (obsolete) The range or extent of vision, especially at sea; (by
extension) a marine measure of approximately twenty miles.
3. As little as one can discriminate or recognize; a small portion, a
little. […]
4. (zoology, obsolete, rare) A chalaza or tread of an egg (a spiral band
attaching the yolk of the egg to the eggshell); a cicatricula. […]
5. (poetry) A metaphorical phrase used in Germanic poetry (especially Old
English or Old Norse) whereby a simple thing is described in an allusive
way. […]
6. (Northern England) A dry measure equivalent to half a bushel; a
container with that capacity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kenning>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts.
Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity. A philosophical
work consists essentially of elucidations. Philosophy does not result in
"philosophical propositions", but rather in the clarification of
propositions. Without philosophy thoughts are, as it were, cloudy and
indistinct: its task is to make them clear and to give them sharp
boundaries.
--Ludwig Wittgenstein
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein>
The Lancashire Fusiliers War Memorial is a First World War memorial
originally dedicated to members of the Lancashire Fusiliers killed in
that conflict, and later rededicated to all fusiliers killed in action.
It was unveiled on 25 April 1922, the seventh anniversary of the landing
at Cape Helles, part of the Gallipoli Campaign in which the regiment
suffered particularly heavy casualties. It is now located outside the
Fusilier Museum in Gallipoli Gardens in Bury, Greater Manchester
(historically in Lancashire), in north-west England. The prominent
architect Edwin Lutyens, whose father and great uncle were officers in
the regiment, designed a tall, slender obelisk in Portland stone, with
inscriptions containing the regiment's motto and a dedication, and the
regiment's cap badge carved near the top. The memorial was designated a
Grade II listed building in 1992. It was upgraded to II* in 2015, and
later that year was recognised as part of a national collection of
Lutyens' war memorials.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancashire_Fusiliers_War_Memorial>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
799:
Pope Leo III was attacked by partisans of his predecessor Adrian
I, but was rescued and taken to Charlemagne, as described in the epic
Karolus magnus et Leo papa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karolus_magnus_et_Leo_papa>
1846:
An open conflict between the military forces of the United
States and Mexico began over the disputed border of Texas north of the
Rio Grande and south of the Nueces River, later serving as a primary
justification for the Mexican–American War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_Affair>
1915:
First World War: Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed
at Anzac Cove while British and French troops landed at Cape Helles to
begin the Allied invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman
Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallipoli_Campaign>
1990:
Violeta Chamorro took office as the President of Nicaragua, the
first woman elected in her own right as a head of state in the Americas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violeta_Chamorro>
2015:
A 7.8 MW earthquake struck Nepal, resulting in 8,964 deaths and
21,952 injuries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2015_Nepal_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
monimolimnion:
The lower, dense stratum of a meromictic lake (one with permanently
stratified layers) that does not mix with the waters above.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/monimolimnion>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You can judge the quality of their faith from the way they
behave. Discipline is an index to doctrine.
--Tertullian
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tertullian>
The 1867 Manhattan earthquake struck Riley County, Kansas, in the United
States on April 24. The strongest earthquake to originate in the state,
it measured 5.1 on a seismic scale based on reports of how strongly it
was felt in the area. Its epicenter was near the town of Manhattan. On
the Mercalli intensity scale, its maximum perceived intensity was VII,
"very strong". There were reports of minor damage in Kansas, Iowa, and
Missouri, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was felt as far
away as Indiana and Illinois, and perhaps Ohio, though the latter
reports have been questioned. Manhattan is near the Nemaha Ridge, a long
anticline structure that is bounded by several faults. A 2016 hazard
map from the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a 1% or lower risk for a
major earthquake in Kansas for the following year, though the nearby
Humboldt Fault Zone continues to pose a threat to the city, and
scientists from the agency think an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 remains
possible.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1867_Manhattan,_Kansas_earthquake>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1800:
The Library of Congress (building pictured), the de facto
national library of the United States, was established as part of an act
of Congress providing for the transfer of the nation's capital from
Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress>
1914:
The Franck–Hertz experiment, the first electrical measurement
to clearly demonstrate quantum mechanics, was presented to the German
Physical Society.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franck%E2%80%93Hertz_experiment>
1980:
Eight U.S. servicemen died in Operation Eagle Claw, a failed
attempt to rescue the captives in the Iran hostage crisis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Eagle_Claw>
2013:
A building in the Savar Upazila of Dhaka, Bangladesh,
collapsed, killing 1,134 people, making it the deadliest accidental
structural failure in modern history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Savar_building_collapse>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
platitudinous:
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/platitudinous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The best way to be thankful is to use the goods the gods provide
you.
--Anthony Trollope
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_Trollope>
The Destroying Angel and Daemons of Evil Interrupting the Orgies of the
Vicious and Intemperate is an oil painting by English artist William
Etty, first exhibited in 1832. With this openly moral piece, Etty hoped
to respond to critics who found his nude paintings indecent and in poor
taste. It depicts a classical temple under attack from a destroying
angel and a group of daemons. Some of the occupants are dead or
unconscious; others flee in terror or struggle against the daemons. When
first exhibited The Destroying Angel was widely praised for its
technical brilliance, but critics were divided on the subject matter.
Some praised its vividness and ability to mix fear and beauty without
descending into tastelessness; others criticised its theme as
inappropriate, and chastised Etty for wasting his talents. Joseph
Whitworth donated the painting in 1882 to the Manchester Art Gallery,
where it remains.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Destroying_Angel_and_Daemons_of_Evil_Inte…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1516:
The most well-known version of the Reinheitsgebot, the German
Beer Purity Law, was adopted across the entirety of Bavaria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot>
1661:
Charles II, King of England, Ireland, and Scotland was crowned
at Westminster Abbey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England>
1918:
First World War: The British Royal Navy conducted an
unsuccessful raid on the German-occupied port of Bruges-Zeebrugge in
Belgium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeebrugge_Raid>
1951:
American journalist William N. Oatis was arrested for espionage
by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_N._Oatis>
1985:
The Coca-Cola Company replaced its flagship soft drink, Coca-
Cola, with "New Coke", which generated so much negative response that
the company put the previous formula back on the market less than three
months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tarn:
1. (Northern England) A small mountain lake, especially in Northern
England.
2. (US, chiefly Montana) One of many small mountain lakes or ponds.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tarn>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises, Sounds, and sweet
airs, that give delight, and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling
instruments Will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices, That, if I
then had wak'd after long sleep, Will make me sleep again; and then, in
dreaming, The clouds methought would open and show riches Ready to
drop upon me, that, when I wak'd, I cried to dream again.
--The Tempest
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Tempest>
The Gloucestershire Regiment (1881–1994) was a line infantry regiment
of the British Army, formed from two regiments originally raised in 1694
and 1758, which first saw action in the Second Boer War. During the
First World War, 16 battalions fought under the regiment’s colours,
winning 72 different battle honours. In the Second World War, the 2nd
and 5th Battalions fought in the Battle of France. Most of the 2nd
Battalion soldiers were taken prisoner in the Battle of Dunkirk, but the
rebuilt unit returned to France on D-Day at Gold Beach. The 1st
Battalion saw action during the Japanese conquest of Burma, and the 10th
Battalion fought in the Burma Campaign 1944–45. During the Korean War,
the 1st Battalion held out for three nights against overwhelming Chinese
forces in the Battle of the Imjin River, and received the American
Presidential Unit Citation. The stand was described by the commander of
the United Nations forces as "the most outstanding example of unit
bravery in modern war".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloucestershire_Regiment>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1500:
Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral and his crew landed
in present day Brazil and claimed the land for Portugal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_%C3%81lvares_Cabral>
1889:
Over 50,000 people rushed to claim a piece of the available two
million acres (8,000 km2) in the Unassigned Lands, the present-day U.S.
state of Oklahoma, entirely founding the brand-new Oklahoma City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rush_of_1889>
1915:
The Germans released chlorine gas in the Second Battle of
Ypres, causing over 6,000 casualties, with many deaths within ten
minutes by asphyxiation in the first large-scale successful use of
poison gas in World War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Ypres>
1948:
Civil War in Mandatory Palestine: The Jewish paramilitary group
Haganah captured Haifa from the Arab Liberation Army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Haifa_(1948)>
2013:
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested two men who were
plotting to commit terrorist attacks against Via Rail Canada operations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Via_Rail_Canada_terrorism_plot>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Gaia:
1. (ecology) The ecosystem of the Earth regarded as a self-regulating
organism.
2. Alternative form of Gaea (“Greek goddess personifying the Earth”).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gaia>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Despite the vision and farseeing wisdom of our wartime heads of
state, the physicists have felt the peculiarly intimate responsibility
for suggesting, for supporting, and in the end, in large measure, for
achieving the realization of atomic weapons. Nor can we forget that
these weapons, as they were in fact used, dramatized so mercilessly the
inhumanity and evil of modern war. In some sort of crude sense which no
vulgarity, no humor, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the
physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot
lose.
--Robert Oppenheimer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Oppenheimer>
Neferirkare Kakai was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the third king of the
Fifth Dynasty. The eldest son of the previous pharaoh, Sahure, he
reigned for eight to eleven years, sometime in the early-to-mid 25th
century BCE. His contemporaries viewed him as a kind and benevolent
ruler, willing to intervene on behalf of his courtiers. During his rule
the number of administration and priesthood officials increased, and
they used their expanded wealth to build sophisticated mastabas (tombs)
where they recorded their biographies for the first time. He was the
last pharaoh to significantly modify the royal naming conventions,
separating the throne name from the birth name, in front of which he
added the "Son of Ra" epithet. In the royal necropolis of Abusir he
started a pyramid for himself conceived as a step pyramid, a form not
seen since the Third Dynasty about 120 years earlier. A modified plan
represented the monument as a true pyramid, the largest in Abusir, but
this pyramid was never completed.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neferirkare_Kakai>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
43 BC:
During the Battle of Mutina, forces led by Mark Antony killed
Decimus Brutus, one of Julius Caesar's assassins.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mutina>
1509:
Henry VIII became King of England, following the death of his
father Henry VII, eventually becoming a significant figure in the
history of the English monarchy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England>
1926:
Al-Baqi cemetery, former site of the mausoleum of four of the
Twelve Imams of Shia Islam, was demolished by Wahhabis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demolition_of_al-Baqi>
1970:
In response to a dispute over wheat production quotas, the
Principality of Hutt River proclaimed its secession from Western
Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Hutt_River>
2010:
Ukraine and Russia signed the Kharkiv Pact to extend the
Russian lease on naval facilities in Crimea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharkiv_Pact>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gens:
1. (Ancient Rome, historical) A legally defined unit of Roman society,
being a collection of people related through a common ancestor by birth,
marriage or adoption, possibly over many generations, and sharing the
same nomen gentilicium.
2. (anthropology) A tribal subgroup whose members are characterized by
having the same descent, usually along the male line.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gens>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
A "war against terrorism" is an impracticable conception if it
means fighting terrorism with terrorism. The feelings on both sides are
not that they are taking part in some evil and criminal act but risking
their lives heroically for what they consider to be a just cause.
--John Mortimer
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