Augustus Owsley Stanley (May 21, 1867 – August 12, 1958) was an
American politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. A Democrat, he
served as the 38th Governor of Kentucky. From 1903 to 1915, Stanley
represented Kentucky's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of
Representatives, where he gained a reputation as a progressive reformer.
Beginning in 1904, he called for an antitrust investigation of the
American Tobacco Company for driving down prices for the tobacco farmers
of his district; a subsequent U.S. Supreme Court case broke up the
company in 1911. He also chaired a committee that conducted an antitrust
investigation of U.S. Steel. Many of his ideas were incorporated into
the Clayton Antitrust Act. In 1915, Stanley ran for governor and won.
Historian Lowell H. Harrison called his administration the apex of the
Progressive Era in Kentucky. Among the reforms adopted during his tenure
were a state antitrust law, a campaign finance reform law, and a
workers' compensation law.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_Owsley_Stanley>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1403:
King Henry III of Castile sent an embassy to the court of Timur
(Tamerlane) to discuss the possibility of an alliance between Timur and
Castile against the Ottoman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timurid_relations_with_Europe>
1856:
A crowd of about 800 pro-slavery Americans ransacked the town
of Lawrence, Kansas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacking_of_Lawrence>
1894:
The Manchester Ship Canal, linking Manchester in North West
England to the Irish Sea, officially opened, becoming the largest
navigation canal in the world at the time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Ship_Canal>
1911:
Mexican President Porfirio Díaz and the revolutionary
Francisco Madero signed the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez to put an end to
the fighting between the forces of both men, and thus concluding the
initial phase of the Mexican Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Ciudad_Ju%C3%A1rez>
1998:
Indonesian President Suharto resigned as a result of the
collapse of support for his three-decade-long reign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fret:
1. (transitive) To chafe or irritate; to worry.
2. (transitive) To make rough, to agitate or disturb; to cause to ripple.
3. (transitive) In the form fret out: to squander, to waste.
4. (transitive, intransitive) To gnaw; to consume, to eat away.
5. (transitive, intransitive) To be chafed or irritated; to be angry or
vexed; to utter peevish expressions through irritation or worry.
6. (intransitive) To be worn away; to chafe; to fray.
7. (intransitive) To be anxious, to worry.
8. (intransitive) To be agitated; to rankle; to be in violent commotion.
9. (intransitive, brewing, oenology) To have secondary fermentation
(fermentation occurring after the conversion of sugar to alcohol in
beers and wine) take place.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fret>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
He who tells a lie, is not sensible how great a task he
undertakes; for he must be forced to invent twenty more to maintain that
one.
--Alexander Pope
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope>
Arlington is a small city in the Seattle metropolitan area of northern
Snohomish County in the U.S. state of Washington. It lies on the
Stillaguamish River in the western foothills of the Cascade Range,
adjacent to the city of Marysville and 10 miles (16 km) north of
Everett. The population was 17,926 in the 2010 U.S. census. Arlington
was established in the 1880s and incorporated as a city on May 20, 1903.
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, federal projects in the
Arlington area included a municipal airport that would serve as a naval
air station during World War II. Beginning in the 1980s, Arlington
became increasingly suburban, annexing new neighborhoods to the south
and west. The economy of the Arlington area transitioned from timber and
agriculture to a service economy in the late 20th century. A Boeing
facility is in Everett, and Arlington's airport is home to many
aerospace jobs.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlington,_Washington>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
794:
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, King Æthelberht II of
East Anglia was beheaded on the order of King Offa of Mercia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelberht_II_of_East_Anglia>
1873:
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received a patent for using copper
rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim overalls, allowing their
company to start manufacturing blue jeans.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_W._Davis>
1882:
The Triple Alliance was created between the German Empire,
Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Alliance_(1882)>
1983:
A team of researchers led by French virologist Luc Montagnier
published their discovery of HIV, but were not then certain that it
caused AIDS.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luc_Montagnier>
2012:
The first of two major earthquakes struck Northern Italy,
resulting in seven deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Northern_Italy_earthquakes>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
creed:
1. (specifically, religion) A reading or statement of belief that
summarizes the faith it represents; a confession of faith for public
use, especially one which is brief and comprehensive.
2. (rare) The fact of believing; belief, faith.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/creed>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavouring to
stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an
evil still. First: the opinion which it is attempted to suppress by
authority may possibly be true. Those who desire to suppress it, of
course deny its truth; but they are not infallible. They have no
authority to decide the question for all mankind, and exclude every
other person from the means of judging. To refuse a hearing to an
opinion, because they are sure that it is false, is to assume that their
certainty is the same thing as absolute certainty. All silencing of
discussion is an assumption of infallibility. Its condemnation may be
allowed to rest on this common argument, not the worse for being common.
Unfortunately for the good sense of mankind, the fact of their
fallibility is far from carrying the weight in their practical judgment,
which is always allowed to it in theory; for while every one well knows
himself to be fallible, few think it necessary to take any precautions
against their own fallibility, or admit the supposition that any
opinion, of which they feel very certain, may be one of the examples of
the error to which they acknowledge themselves to be liable.
--On Liberty
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/On_Liberty>
Dungeons & Dragons is a studio album by American musical group Midnight
Syndicate, released in 2003 by Entity Productions. The album is designed
as a soundtrack for Wizards of the Coast's role-playing game Dungeons &
Dragons. After an initial meeting with Wizards of the Coast, Edward
Douglas and Gavin Goszka of Midnight Syndicate produced tracks
independently of one another, then jointly arranged the album and
mastered the tracks. The fantasy album was a change in style from their
earlier works, which had been almost entirely horror-based. Artwork in
the album booklet came from sourcebooks for the game, including works
from prominent game designers such as Skip Williams. The album was well
received by music critics and the gaming community. Wizards of the Coast
described the band's music as "the perfect accompaniment to role-playing
game sessions", and acknowledged the album as the first official
Dungeons & Dragons soundtrack.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_(album)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
715:
The papacy of Gregory II began; his conflict with Byzantine
emperor Leo III eventually led to the establishment of the popes'
temporal power.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_II>
1743:
French physicist Jean-Pierre Christin published the design of a
mercury thermometer with the centigrade scale, with 0 representing the
freezing point of water and 100 its boiling point.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celsius>
1845:
Captain Sir John Franklin and his ill-fated Arctic expedition
departed from Greenhithe, England; 129 men would die on the expedition.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin%27s_lost_expedition>
1997:
The Sierra Gorda Biosphere, which encompasses the most
ecologically diverse region in Mexico, was established as a result of
grassroots efforts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Gorda>
2015:
A corroded oil pipeline in Santa Barbara County, California,
burst, spilling 142,800 U.S. gallons (3,400 barrels) of crude oil onto
one of the most biologically diverse coastlines of the U.S. West Coast.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugio_oil_spill>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
nuptials:
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nuptials>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Humanity may endure the loss of everything: all its possessions
may be torn away without infringing its true dignity; — all but the
possibility of improvement.
--Johann Gottlieb Fichte
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johann_Gottlieb_Fichte>
Gillingham F.C. is an English football club based in Gillingham, Kent.
The club was formed in 1893, and played in the Southern League until
1920, when its top division was absorbed into the Football League as its
new Division Three. The club was voted out of the league in favour of
Ipswich Town at the end of the 1937–38 season, but returned 12 years
later, when that league was expanded from 88 to 92 clubs. Twice in the
late 1980s Gillingham came close to winning promotion to the second tier
of English football, but a decline set in, and in 1993 the club narrowly
avoided relegation to the Football Conference. In 2000, the "Gills"
reached the second tier of the English league for the first time in the
club's history and went on to spend five seasons at this level,
achieving a club-record highest league finish of eleventh place in
2002–03. The club has twice won the fourth-level division in the
football league pyramid: the Football League Fourth Division
championship in 1963–64 and the Football League Two championship in
2012–13.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Gillingham_F.C.>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1388:
During the Battle of Buir Lake, General Lan Yu led a Chinese
army forward to crush the Mongol hordes of Toghus Temur, the Khan of
Northern Yuan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Buir_Lake>
1896:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case Plessy v.
Ferguson, upholding the legality of racial segregation in public
transportation under the "separate but equal" doctrine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plessy_v._Ferguson>
1944:
The Soviet Union forcibly deported the entire population of
Crimean Tatars to the Uzbek SSR and elsewhere in the country.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_Tatars>
1955:
Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000
Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French
Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of
the First Indochina War, ended.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Passage_to_Freedom>
2006:
The Parliament of Nepal unanimously voted to strip King
Gyanendra of many of his powers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_democracy_movement_in_Nepal>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Bauhaus:
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bauhaus>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else,
that prevents men from living freely and nobly. The State and Property
are the great embodiments of possessiveness; it is for this reason that
they are against life, and that they issue in war. Possession means
taking or keeping some good thing which another is prevented from
enjoying; creation means putting into the world a good thing which
otherwise no one would be able to enjoy. Since the material goods of the
world must be divided among the population, and since some men are by
nature brigands, there must be defensive possession, which will be
regulated, in a good community, by some principle of impersonal justice.
But all this is only the preface to a good life or good political
institutions, in which creation will altogether outweigh possession, and
distributive justice will exist as an uninteresting matter of course.
The supreme principle, both in politics and in private life, should be
to promote all that is creative, and so to diminish the impulses and
desires that center round possession.
--Bertrand Russell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell>
Ngô Đình Cẩn (1911–1964) was a younger brother and confidant of
South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm, who put Cẩn in
charge of central Vietnam, stretching from Phan Thiết in the south to
the border at the 17th parallel. Based in the former imperial capital of
Huế, Cẩn earned a reputation as the most oppressive of the Ngô
brothers, operating private armies and secret police that controlled the
central region. Cẩn's influence began to wane after his elder brother
Ngô Đình Thục was appointed the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Huế.
Thục overshadowed Cẩn and aggressively promoted Catholicism, which
led to the banning of the Buddhist flag in 1963 during Vesak, the
celebration of the birthday of Gautama Buddha. Cẩn's forces opened
fire on a crowd protesting the ban, killing nine and precipitating the
Buddhist crisis and the eventual toppling of the Diem regime in a
November 1963 coup. Cẩn was arrested and turned over to the military
junta, which executed him in 1964.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ng%C3%B4_%C4%90%C3%ACnh_C%E1%BA%A9n>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1521:
English nobleman Edward Stafford, whose father had been
beheaded for rebelling against King Richard III, was himself executed
for treason against King Henry VIII.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Stafford,_3rd_Duke_of_Buckingham>
1642:
The Société Notre-Dame de Montréal founded a permanent
mission known as Ville-Marie, which eventually grew into the city of
Montreal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal>
1902:
The Antikythera mechanism (fragment pictured), the oldest known
surviving geared mechanism, was discovered among artifacts retrieved
from a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism>
1977:
The first Chuck E. Cheese's location, the first family
restaurant to integrate food, animated entertainment, and an indoor
arcade, opened in San Jose, California, U.S.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_E._Cheese%27s>
2000:
Following the killings of two English football fans in the
previous month by Galatasaray supporters, British and Turkish hooligans
attacked each other on the day of the UEFA Cup Final.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_UEFA_Cup_Final_riots>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hearts beat as one:
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hearts_beat_as_one>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The noblest and most fruitful work of the human intelligence is
to make a clean sweep of every enforced idea — of advantages or
meanings — and to go right through appearances in search of the
eternal bases. Thus you will clearly see the moral law at the beginning
of all things, and the conception of justice and equality will appear to
you beautiful as daylight.
--Henri Barbusse
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henri_Barbusse>
The Battle of Albuera (16 May 1811) was fought during the Peninsular
War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of
the French Armée du Midi (Army of the South) at the small Spanish
village of La Albuera, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of the
frontier fortress town of Badajoz, Spain. Since October 1810, Marshal
Masséna's French Army of Portugal had been tied down in an increasingly
hopeless stand-off against Wellington's Allied forces. Acting on
Napoleon's orders, in early 1811 Marshal Soult led a French expedition
from Andalusia into Extremadura in a bid to draw Allied forces away from
the battle lines and ease Masséna's plight. In April 1811, following
news of Masséna's complete withdrawal from Portugal, Wellington sent
the powerful Anglo-Portuguese Army commanded by Sir William Beresford to
retake the border town. Meeting at Albuera, both sides suffered heavily,
and the French finally withdrew on 18 May.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Albuera>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1866:
The United States Congress authorized the minting of the
country's first copper-nickel five-cent piece, the Shield nickel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield_nickel>
1918:
The Sedition Act was passed in the United States, forbidding
Americans from using "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive
language" about the United States government, flag, or armed forces
during the ongoing World War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedition_Act_of_1918>
1959:
The Triton Fountain in Valletta, one of Malta's most important
Modernist landmarks, was turned on for the first time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triton_Fountain_(Malta)>
1961:
The Military Revolution Committee, led by Park Chung-hee,
carried out a bloodless coup against the government of Yun Bo-seon,
ending the Second Republic of South Korea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_16_coup>
1975:
Based on the results of a referendum held about one month
earlier, Sikkim abolished its monarchy and was annexed by India,
becoming its 22nd state.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikkim>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
vermiculation:
1. (obsolete, rare) The process of being turned into a worm.
2. The state of being infested or consumed by worms.
3. A pattern of irregular wavy lines resembling worms or their casts or
tracks, found on the plumage of birds, used to decorate artworks and
buildings, etc.
4. (medicine, dated) Peristalsis.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vermiculation>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
At this weak, pale, tabescent moment in the history of American
literature, we need a battalion, a brigade, of Zolas to head out into
this wild, bizarre, unpredictable, Hog-stomping, Baroque country of ours
and reclaim it as literary property.
--Tom Wolfe
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Wolfe>
"No Rest for the Wicked" is the third-season finale of The CW television
series Supernatural. Written by series creator Eric Kripke and directed
by Kim Manners, the episode was first broadcast in the U.S. on May 15,
2008. The narrative follows Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester
(Jensen Ackles), brothers who hunt supernatural creatures, as they
attempt to save Dean's soul from damnation. The episode marks the final
appearance of Katie Cassidy as the demon Ruby. The writers initially
intended that Sam would save Dean, but the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of
America strike prevented the development of that storyline throughout
the season. Dean is instead killed, and sent to Hell. The episode
received high ratings for the season, and garnered generally positive
reviews from critics. The decision to follow through with Dean's Hell-
bound contract was praised, as were the performances of Padalecki and
Ackles. Sierra McCormick was noted for her "creepy" demon character
Lilith.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Rest_for_the_Wicked_(Supernatural)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1602:
English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold led the first recorded
European expedition to visit Cape Cod in present-day Massachusetts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_Gosnold>
1864:
American Civil War: A small Confederate force, which included
cadets from the Virginia Military Institute, forced the Union Army out
of the Shenandoah Valley.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_New_Market>
1911:
Mexican Revolution: A force of Maderistas captured Torreón and
proceeded to massacre 303 of the city's Chinese residents.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torre%C3%B3n_massacre>
1948:
The Australian cricket team, on tour in England, set a first-
class world record that still stands by scoring 721 runs in a day
against Essex.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_cricket_team_in_England_in_1948>
1966:
Disapproving of his handling of the Buddhist Uprising, South
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ ordered an attack on the
forces of General Tôn Thất Đính and ousted him from the position.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%B4n_Th%E1%BA%A5t_%C4%90%C3%ADnh>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
familial:
1. Of or pertaining to a human family.
2. Of or pertaining to any grouping of things referred to as a family.
3. (pathology) Inherited.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/familial>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is a callous age; we have seen so many marvels that we are
ashamed to marvel more; the seven wonders of the world have become seven
thousand wonders.
--L. Frank Baum
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/L._Frank_Baum>
The school that became Texas A&M; University, the first public
institution of higher education in Texas, was founded in 1871 as the
Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. Established under the
Morrill Act of 1862, it was originally proposed as a branch of the yet-
to-be-created University of Texas, but the Texas legislature never gave
that university any authority over Texas A&M.; For much of its first
century, enrollment was restricted to white men who were willing to
participate in the Corps of Cadets and receive military training.
Shortly after World War II, the legislature redefined Texas A&M; as a
university and the flagship school of the Texas A&M; University System,
cementing the school's status as an institution separate from the
University of Texas. In the 1960s, the state legislature renamed the
school Texas A&M; University, with the "A&M;" becoming purely symbolic.
Membership in the Corps of Cadets became voluntary, and the school
became racially integrated and coeducational.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Texas_A%26M_University>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1264:
Second Barons' War: King Henry III was defeated at the Battle
of Lewes and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort
the de facto ruler of England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_of_Lewes>
1868:
Boshin War: Troops of the Tokugawa shogunate withdrew from the
Battle of Utsunomiya Castle and retreated north towards Nikkō and Aizu.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Utsunomiya_Castle>
1943:
Second World War: Australian Hospital Ship Centaur was attacked
and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland, killing
268 people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AHS_Centaur>
1948:
David Ben-Gurion publicly read the Israeli Declaration of
Independence at the present-day Independence Hall in Tel Aviv,
officially establishing the state of Israel in parts of the former
British Mandate of Palestine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_Declaration_of_Independence>
1973:
The NASA space station Skylab was launched from Cape Canaveral.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
reseda:
1. (botany) Any of various plants of the genus Reseda, having small, pale
grayish green flowers such as dyer's rocket (Reseda luteola) and
mignonette (Reseda odorata).
2. (botany, horticulture, specifically) Mignonette (Reseda odorata).
3. A pale greyish-green colour like the flowers of a reseda plant;
mignonette.
4. Having a pale greyish-green colour like the flowers of a reseda plant;
mignonette.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reseda>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Pleasure's fun. It's great, but you can't keep it going forever;
just accept the fact that it's here and it's gone, and maybe then again,
it will come back, and you'll get to do it again. Joy lasts forever.
Pleasure is purely self-centered. It's all about your pleasure: it's
about you. It's a selfish, self-centered emotion, that is created by a
self-centered motive of greed. Joy is compassion. Joy is giving yourself
to somebody else, or something else. And it's a kind of thing that is,
in its subtlety and lowness, much more powerful than pleasure. You get
hung up on pleasure; you're doomed. If you pursue joy; you will find
everlasting happiness.
--George Lucas
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Lucas>
Banksia aculeata, the prickly banksia, is a plant of the family
Proteaceae native to the Stirling Range in the southwest of Western
Australia. A bushy shrub up to 2 m (7 ft) tall, it has fissured grey
bark on its trunk and branches, and dense foliage and leaves with very
prickly serrated margins. Its unusual pinkish, pendent (hanging) flower
spikes, known as inflorescences, are generally hidden in the foliage and
appear during the early summer. Unlike many other banksia species, it
does not have a woody base, or lignotuber. Although it was collected in
the 1840s by the naturalist James Drummond, it was not formally
described until 1981, in Alex George's monograph of the genus. A rare
plant, B. aculeata is found in gravelly soils in elevated areas. Native
to a habitat burnt by periodic bushfires, it is killed by fire and
regenerates from seed afterwards. In contrast to other Western
Australian banksias, it appears to have some resistance to Phytophthora
cinnamomi, a soil-borne water mould.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksia_aculeata>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
Robert Smalls escaped from slavery in Charleston, South
Carolina, by commandeering the CSS Planter and sailing it from
Confederate-controlled waters to the U.S. blockade.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smalls>
1888:
Princess Isabel of the Empire of Brazil signed the Lei Áurea
into law, formally abolishing slavery in Brazil.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Brazil>
1913:
Russian-American Igor Sikorsky flew the world's first four-
engine fixed-wing aircraft, the Russky Vityaz, which he designed
himself.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Sikorsky>
1958:
Australian Ben Carlin became the only person to circumnavigate
the world in an amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 80,000 km
(50,000 mi) by land and sea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Carlin>
2008:
Nine bombs placed by the previously unknown terrorist group
Indian Mujahideen exploded in 15 minutes in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India,
killing 80 and injuring more than 200 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaipur_bombings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sultry:
1. (weather) Hot and humid.
2. (weather) Very hot and dry; torrid.
3. (figuratively) Sexually enthralling.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sultry>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The higher order edition of the Pattern I encountered in the
Jewel … There were aspects of it I simply could not understand. This
led to considerations of chaos theory, then to Menninger and all the
others for its manifestations in consciousness. … Either it possesses
a certain element of irrationality itself, like living things, or it is
an intelligence of such an order that some of its processes only seem
irrational to lesser beings. Either explanation amounts to the same
thing from a practical standpoint.
--Prince of Chaos
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Amber#Prince_of_Chaos_(1991)>
Heterodontosaurus was a dinosaur of the Early Jurassic, 200–190
million years ago. It was named in 1962 after a skull fossil was
discovered in South Africa. The genus name means "different toothed
lizard", in reference to its unusual heterodont dentition, including
small, incisor-like teeth in the upper jaw, followed by long, canine-
like tusks. Additional specimens have been found, including an almost
complete skeleton in 1966. Though it was a small dinosaur,
Heterodontosaurus was one of the largest members of its family, reaching
between 1.18 m (3.9 ft) and possibly 1.75 m (5.7 ft) in length, and
weighing between 2 and 10 kg (4.4 and 22.0 lb). The body was short
with a long tail. The five-fingered forelimbs were long and relatively
robust; the hind-limbs were long, slender, and had four toes. The skull
was elongated, narrow, and triangular when viewed from the side. The
front of the jaws were covered in a keratinous beak.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterodontosaurus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1588:
Day of the Barricades: Under the leadership of Henry I, Duke of
Guise, Catholic Parisians arose in protest against the moderate policies
of Henry III.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Barricades>
1888:
North Borneo was established as a British protectorate.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Borneo>
1968:
The 1st Australian Task Force began the defence of Fire Support
Base Coral in the largest unit-level action of the Vietnam War for the
Australian Army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Coral%E2%80%93Balmoral>
1998:
Four students were shot and killed at Trisakti University in
Indonesia, leading to widespread riots and eventually the fall of
Suharto.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trisakti_shootings>
2008:
In Postville, Iowa, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
conducted the largest-ever raid of a workplace and arrested nearly 400
immigrants for identity theft and document fraud.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postville_raid>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
runcible:
(humorous) A nonce word used for humorous effect, and perhaps originally
to maintain the number of syllables in lines of poems.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/runcible>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Perhaps it is not true to speak of God as a judge at all, or of
his judgements. There does not seem to be really any evidence that His
worlds are places of trial but rather schools, places of training, or
that He is a judge but rather a Teacher, a Trainer, not in the imperfect
sense in which men are teachers, but in the sense of His contriving and
adapting His whole universe for one purpose of training every
intelligent being to be perfect. … I think God would not be the
Almighty, the All-Wise, the All-Good, if he were the judge, in the sense
that the evangelical and Roman Catholic Christians impute judgement to
him. … Our business is, I think, to understand, not to judge. What He
does is, as far as we know, to rule by law down to the most
infinitesimally small portion of His universe, not to judge.
--Florence Nightingale
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale>