American science fiction and fantasy magazines flourished from the mid-
1920s to the 1940s. The first magazine to focus on fantasy and horror
was Weird Tales, launched in 1923, which established itself as the
leading weird fiction magazine over the next two decades, with regular
contributors such as H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E.
Howard. In 1926 Hugo Gernsback's Amazing Stories appeared (pictured),
running only science fiction. Its letters column, which often provided
contact information, marked the beginning of organized science fiction
fandom. Astounding Stories of Super-Science, founded in 1930, became the
leading magazine in its genre, publishing early classics such as Murray
Leinster's "Sidewise in Time". John W. Campbell took over as editor in
1937 and ran works by Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and A. E. van
Vogt. Only eight science fiction and fantasy magazines survived World
War II, with all but Astounding still in pulp magazine format.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_US_science_fiction_and_fantasy_mag…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1787:
German-born British astronomer William Herschel discovered two
Uranian moons, later named by his son as Oberon and Titania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titania_%28moon%29>
1923:
Troops from France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr to force the
German Weimar Republic to pay its reparations in the aftermath of World
War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Ruhr>
1964:
In a landmark report, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued
the warning that smoking may be hazardous to people's health, concluding
that it has a causative role in lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, and
other illnesses.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_and_Health:_Report_of_the_Advisory_Co…>
2003:
After Chicago police detective Jon Burge was discovered to have
forced confessions from more than 200 suspects, Governor of Illinois
George Ryan commuted the death sentences of 167 prisoners and pardoned 4
more.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Ryan>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
blotto:
(informal) (Very) drunk or intoxicated.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blotto>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Not the individual man nor a single generation by its own power
can erect the bridge that leads to God. Faith is the achievement of many
generations, and effort accumulated over many centuries. … There is a
collective memory of God in the human spirit, and it is this memory
which is the main source of our faith.
--Abraham Joshua Heschel
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Joshua_Heschel>
John Rykener was a sex worker who was arrested in December 1394 for
performing a sex act in women's clothes with John Britby in the
Cheapside area of London. The Lord Mayor questioned him on the offences
of prostitution and sodomy; a record of the interrogation was found in
the 1990s in the City of London archives. Rykener introduced himself as
Eleanor. He told the mayor that he had sex with both men and women,
including priests and nuns, and that he had paid sexual encounters in
Oxford and near the Tower of London. There is no evidence that he was
prosecuted for either crime; prostitutes were not usually arrested in
London during this period, and sodomy was pursued in ecclesiastical
courts. Rykener has appeared in studies of English social, sexual and
gender history and as a character in at least one modern work of popular
historical fiction. His story has been adapted for the stage.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John/Eleanor_Rykener>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1863:
Service began on the Metropolitan Railway (construction
pictured) between Paddington and Farringdon Street, today the oldest
segment of the London Underground.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Railway>
1927:
The science fiction film Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang,
was released in Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_%281927_film%29>
1941:
Greco-Italian War: The Greek army captured the strategically
important Klisura Pass in Albania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Klisura_Pass>
2007:
A general strike began in Guinea as an attempt to force
President Lansana Conté to resign, eventually resulting in the
appointment of two new prime ministers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Guinean_general_strike>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
blooper:
1. (US, dated) A radio which interferes with other radios, causing them
to bloop (squeal loudly).
2. (informal) A blunder, an error.
3. (baseball, slang) A fly ball that is weakly hit just over the
infielders.
4. (film, informal) A filmed or videotaped outtake that has recorded an
amusing accident and/or mistake.
5. (nautical) A gaff-rigged fore-and-aft sail set from and aft of the
aftmost mast of a square-rigged ship; a spanker.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blooper>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In ancient times the State absorbed authorities not its own, and
intruded on the domain of personal freedom. In the Middle Ages it
possessed too little authority, and suffered others to intrude. Modern
States fall habitually into both excesses. The most certain test by
which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of
security enjoyed by minorities. Liberty, by this definition, is the
essential condition and guardian of religion...
--John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Dalberg-Acton,_1st_Baron_Acton>
The Walking Liberty half dollar is a silver 50-cent piece that was
designed by Adolph A. Weinman and issued by the United States Mint from
1916 to 1947. In 1915, the new Mint director, Robert W. Woolley,
incorrectly believed that he was not only allowed but required by law to
retire coin designs that had been in use for 25 years. He began
replacing the Barber coinage: dimes, quarters and half dollars bearing
similar designs, first struck in 1892 by long-time Mint Engraver Charles
E. Barber. Weinman's design of Liberty striding towards the Sun for the
half dollar proved difficult to perfect, and it never struck well, which
may have been a factor in its replacement by the Franklin half dollar
beginning in 1948. Nevertheless, art historian Cornelius Vermeule
considered the piece to be among the most beautiful US coins. Since
1986, a modification of Weinman's obverse design has been used for the
American Silver Eagle, and the half dollar was issued in gold for its
centennial in 2016.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_Liberty_half_dollar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1857:
A 7.9 Mw earthquake ruptured part of the San Andreas Fault in
California and was felt as far east as Las Vegas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1857_Fort_Tejon_earthquake>
1917:
First World War: Troops of the British Empire defeated Ottoman
forces at the Battle of Rafa on the Sinai–Palestine border in present-
day Rafah.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rafa>
1981:
U.S. Representative Raymond Lederer was convicted of bribery
and conspiracy for his role in the Abscam scandal, but continued to
serve his term for three more months.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Lederer>
1992:
Radio astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail announced
the discovery of two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12, the
first definitive detection of exoplanets.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoplanet>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cryptodepression:
(geography, limnology) The portion of a lake which lies below sea level.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cryptodepression>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The fact that we are human beings is infinitely more important
than all the peculiarities that distinguish human beings from one
another; it is never the given that confers superiorities: "virtue", as
the ancients called it, is defined at the level of "that which depends
on us". In both sexes is played out the same drama of the flesh and the
spirit, of finitude and transcendence; both are gnawed away by time and
laid in wait for by death, they have the same essential need for one
another; and they can gain from their liberty the same glory. If they
were to taste it, they would no longer be tempted to dispute fallacious
privileges, and fraternity between them could then come into existence.
--Simone de Beauvoir
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir>
Ceratosaurus was a theropod dinosaur in the Late Jurassic, around 150
million years ago. This genus was first described in 1884 by American
paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh based on a nearly complete skeleton
discovered in Garden Park, Colorado, in rocks belonging to the Morrison
Formation. In 2000 and 2006, a partial specimen from the Lourinhã
Formation of Portugal was described, providing evidence for the presence
of the genus outside of North America. Ceratosaurus was a predator with
deep jaws supporting long, blade-like teeth. It had a prominent, ridge-
like horn on the midline of the snout and a pair of horns over the eyes.
The forelimbs were very short but remained fully functional, with four-
fingered hands. The tail was thick from top to bottom. It shared its
habitat with other large theropods including Torvosaurus and Allosaurus.
It may have hunted plant-eating dinosaurs or aquatic prey such as fish.
The nasal horn was probably used solely for display.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratosaurus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1735:
The opera Ariodante by George Frideric Handel was first
performed in the Covent Garden Theatre, London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariodante>
1904:
Blackstone Library, the first branch of the Chicago Public
Library system, was dedicated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone_Library>
1977:
Three bombs attributed to Armenian nationalists exploded across
Moscow, killing 7 people and injuring 37.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Moscow_bombings>
2004:
RMS Queen Mary 2, at the time the longest, widest and tallest
passenger ship ever built, was christened by her namesake's
granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Queen_Mary_2>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mind-boggling:
That causes the mind to boggle; that is beyond one's ability to
understand or figure out.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mind-boggling>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
An ancient Chinese curse runs, "May you live in interesting
times." Since the fall of the Roman Empire, there has rarely been more
interesting times than these. Whenever history becomes unstable and
destinies hang in the balance, then magicians and messiahs appear
everywhere. Our own civilization has moved into an epoch of permanent
crisis and upheaval, and we are beset with a plague of wizards. They
serve an historic purpose, for whenever a society undergoes radical
change, alternative spiritualities proliferate, and from among these a
culture will select a new world view.
--Peter J. Carroll
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_J._Carroll>
The Quebec Agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States
outlined terms for coordinated scientific development of nuclear energy.
It stipulated that the US and UK would pool their resources to develop
nuclear weapons, and that neither would use the weapons against another
country without mutual consent, or pass information about them to other
countries. The agreement merged the British Tube Alloys project with the
American Manhattan Project, and created the Combined Policy Committee to
control the joint project. It was signed by Winston Churchill and
Franklin D. Roosevelt on 19 August 1943 during World War II, at the
Quadrant Conference in Quebec City in Canada. Although Canada was not a
signatory, the agreement provided for a Canadian representative on the
Combined Policy Committee in view of the country's contribution. On 7
January 1948, the Quebec Agreement was superseded by a provisional
agreement allowing for limited sharing of technical information.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Agreement>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1797:
The first official Italian tricolour was adopted by the
government of the Cispadane Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Italy>
1939:
The French physicist Marguerite Perey identified francium, the
last element first discovered in nature, rather than by synthesis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francium>
1979:
The People's Army of Vietnam captured Phnom Penh, which marked
the end of large-scale fighting in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian%E2%80%93Vietnamese_War>
1989:
Representatives of Ruhollah Khomeini delivered a letter to
Mikhail Gorbachev, inviting him to consider Islam as an alternative to
communism, and predicting the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khomeini%27s_letter_to_Mikhail_Gorbachev>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
to say nothing of:
(idiomatic) An apophasis used to mention another important, usually
related, point: not taking into account, not to mention, without
considering.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/to_say_nothing_of>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Many people think that conservation is just about saving fluffy
animals – what they don’t realise is that we’re trying to prevent
the human race from committing suicide … We have declared war on the
biological world, the world that supports us … At the moment the human
race is in the position of a man sawing off the tree branch he is
sitting on.
--Gerald Durrell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gerald_Durrell>
Weather Machine is a lumino-kinetic bronze sculpture in the U.S. city of
Portland, Oregon, that serves as a weather beacon, displaying a daily
weather prediction at noon. The approximately 30-foot-tall (9 m)
sculpture was installed in 1988 in the northwest corner of Pioneer
Courthouse Square. Two thousand people attended its dedication,
broadcast live nationally from the square by Today weatherman Willard
Scott. During its daily two-minute sequence, which includes a trumpet
fanfare, mist, and flashing lights, the machine displays one of three
metal symbols as a prediction for the following 24-hour period: a sun
for clear weather, a blue heron for drizzle and transitional weather, or
a dragon and mist for rainy weather. The sculpture includes two bronze
wind scoops and displays the temperature via vertical colored lights
along its stem. The air quality index is also displayed by a light
system below the stainless steel globe.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Machine>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1540:
King Henry VIII of England married Anne of Cleves, but the
marriage was annulled six months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Cleves>
1907:
Italian educator Maria Montessori opened her first school and
day-care centre for working-class children in Rome, employing the
philosophy of education that now bears her name.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Montessori>
1960:
National Airlines Flight 2511, traveling from New York City to
Miami, exploded in midair due to a bomb placed by an unknown party,
resulting in the deaths of all 34 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Airlines_Flight_2511>
1977:
The record label EMI ended its contract with the English punk
rock band Sex Pistols in response to its members' disruptive behaviour
at Heathrow Airport two days earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_Pistols>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Slavi:
The Russian Orthodox Christmas, which is celebrated from January 6
through 13 in outstate Alaska, USA, wherever there is a sizable Russian
Orthodox population.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Slavi>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Through the myth it creates, propaganda imposes a complete range
of intuitive knowledge, susceptible of only one interpretation, unique
and one-sided, and precluding any divergence. This myth becomes so
powerful that it invades every arena of consciousness, leaving no
faculty or motivation intact. It stimulates in the individual a feeling
of exclusiveness, and produces a biased attitude.
--Jacques Ellul
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jacques_Ellul>
Bradley Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American actor and producer.
He has been nominated for a Tony Award, four Academy Awards, and two
Grammy Awards. In 2000 Cooper enrolled at the Actors Studio in New York
City. His career began with a guest role in the television series Sex
and the City in 1999, and he played Will Tippin in the spy-action
television show Alias (2001–2006). His breakthrough role came in the
film The Hangover (2009) and its two sequels. He portrayed a struggling
writer in Limitless and a rookie police officer in The Place Beyond the
Pines. He also had roles in the romantic comedy-drama Silver Linings
Playbook, the black comedy crime film American Hustle, and the biopic
American Sniper. In 2014 he portrayed Joseph Merrick in a Broadway
revival of The Elephant Man, garnering a nomination for the Tony Award
for Best Actor in a Play.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Cooper>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1875:
The Palais Garnier opera house in Paris was formally
inaugurated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_Garnier>
1919:
The German Workers' Party, the forerunner to the Nazi Party,
was founded by Anton Drexler.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Workers%27_Party>
1975:
The bulk carrier Lake Illawarra struck a bridge over the River
Derwent in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, causing the deaths of seven of
the ship's crewmen and five motorists on the bridge.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasman_Bridge_disaster>
2000:
Sri Lankan politician Kumar Ponnambalam was killed in an
assassination blamed on President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumar_Ponnambalam>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
puffling:
A young puffin.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/puffling>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Children understand intuitively that the world they have been
born into is not a blessed world.
--Hayao Miyazaki
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki>
Brian Horrocks (1895–1985) was a British Army officer who commanded
XXX Corps during the Second World War. He also served in the First
World War and the Russian Civil War, was taken prisoner twice, and
competed in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Later he was a television
presenter, a military history author, and Black Rod in the House of
Lords. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery identified Horrocks as one of
his most able officers, appointing him to corps commands in North Africa
and Europe. Horrocks was seriously wounded in 1943, and took more than a
year to recover before returning to command a corps. His wound caused
continuing health problems and led to his early retirement from the
army. Since 1945, Horrocks has been regarded by some historians as one
of the most successful British generals of the war; Dwight D.
Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in Western Europe, called him
"the outstanding British general under Montgomery".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Horrocks>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1698:
Most of London's Palace of Whitehall, from 1530 the main
residence of the English monarchs, was destroyed by fire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Whitehall>
1798:
After his investiture as Prince of Wallachia, Constantine
Hangerli arrived in Bucharest to assume the throne.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_Hangerli>
1951:
Korean War: Chinese and North Korean troops captured Seoul.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Battle_of_Seoul>
1989:
Two American F-14 Tomcats shot down two Libyan MiG-23 Floggers
that appeared to be attempting to engage them over the Gulf of Sirte in
the Mediterranean Sea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_air_battle_near_Tobruk>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
prescient:
Exhibiting or possessing prescience: having knowledge of, or seemingly
able to correctly predict, events before they take place.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prescient>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You are what you do. If you do boring, stupid monotonous work,
chances are you'll end up boring, stupid and monotonous. Work is a much
better explanation for the creeping cretinization all around us than
even such significant moronizing mechanisms as television and education.
People who are regimented all their lives, handed off to work from
school and bracketed by the family in the beginning and the nursing home
at the end, are habituated to hierarchy and psychologically enslaved.
Their aptitude for autonomy is so atrophied that their fear of freedom
is among their few rationally grounded phobias.
--Bob Black
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bob_Black>
The 2009 International Bowl was a postseason American college football
bowl game between the Connecticut Huskies and the Buffalo Bulls played
in Canada at the Rogers Centre (pictured) in Toronto on January 3,
2009. Connecticut represented the Big East Conference; Buffalo was the
Mid-American Conference champion. At the pregame luncheon, members of
the 1958 Buffalo Bulls were honored. The 1958 team was the first from
the university to be invited to a bowl game, the Tangerine Bowl, where
they would have faced Florida State. Because that stadium prohibited
integrated football games, the team's African-American
players—starting running back Willie Evans and backup defensive end
Mike Wilson—were not allowed to play. The players unanimously voted to
reject the bowl bid, and Buffalo would not play in a bowl until the 2009
game, which ended in a 38–20 victory for Connecticut.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_International_Bowl>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1888:
The 36-inch (91 cm) refracting telescope at the Lick
Observatory near San Jose, California, the largest in the world until
1897, was used for the first time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lick_Observatory>
1919:
Emir Faisal of Iraq signed an agreement with Zionist leader
Chaim Weizmann on the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and
an Arab nation in a large part of the Middle East.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal%E2%80%93Weizmann_Agreement>
1961:
Twenty-five people died in Finland's worst civilian air
accident when Aero Flight 311 crashed near Kvevlax.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Flight_311>
2009:
The bitcoin cryptocurrency network was created when Satoshi
Nakamoto mined the first block of the chain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
castle in the air:
(idiomatic) A desire, idea, or plan that is unlikely to ever be
realized; a visionary project or scheme; a daydream, an idle fancy, a
near impossibility.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/castle_in_the_air>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Appetitus rationi pareat. Let your desires be ruled by reason.
--Cicero
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cicero>
The Australian raven (Corvus coronoides) is a bird native to much of
southern and northeastern Australia. Its plumage is all black with
glossy upperparts, and its strong legs and feet are grey-black. Nicholas
Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield described the bird in 1827, with a
species name highlighting its similarity to the carrion crow (C.
corone). The preferred habitat is open woodland and transitional zones.
It has adapted well to urban environments and is a common city bird in
Sydney, Canberra and Perth. An opportunistic feeder, it eats a wide
variety of plant and animal material, as well as food waste from urban
areas. In eastern Australia its range includes many sheep farms, and it
has been blamed for attacking healthy lambs, but very rarely does. The
Australian raven is territorial, with pairs breeding between July and
September and generally bonding for life. The nest is a bowl-shaped
structure of sticks sited high in a tree, or occasionally in a man-made
structure.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_raven>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1680:
Trunajaya rebellion: Amangkurat II of Mataram of Java and his
courtiers stabbed Trunajaya to death a week after the rebel leader
surrendered to the Dutch.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunajaya_rebellion>
1920:
Under the leadership of U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell
Palmer, Department of Justice agents launched a series of raids against
radical leftists and anarchists in more than 30 cities and towns in 23
states.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Raids>
1981:
English serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper",
was arrested in Sheffield, ending one of the largest police
investigations in British history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sutcliffe>
2016:
Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia, was
executed by the Saudi government along with 46 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Saudi_Arabia_mass_execution>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tumultuous:
1. Characterized by loud, confused noise.
2. Causing or characerized by tumult; chaotic, disorderly, turbulent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tumultuous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is better to go to defeat with free will than to live in a
meaningless security as a cog in a machine.
--Isaac Asimov
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov>