Michael Collins (born October 31, 1930) is a former astronaut and test
pilot who was the command module pilot of Apollo 11 in 1969. The first
person to perform more than one spacewalk, he is one of 24 people to
have flown to the Moon. Collins joined the U.S. Air Force after
graduating from West Point in 1952. He graduated in 1960 from the Air
Force Experimental Flight Test Pilot School and was selected for NASA's
third group of astronauts in 1963. He made two spacewalks on his first
mission on Gemini 10 in 1966. During Apollo 11, he remained in orbit
around the Moon in the command module Columbia while his crewmates Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the first crewed landing on the surface.
After retiring from NASA, Collins became Assistant Secretary of State
for Public Affairs and later director of the National Air and Space
Museum. Under his guidance, the museum opened on time and within budget
for the United States Bicentennial in 1976.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_%28astronaut%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1517:
According to some traditional accounts, Martin Luther
(depicted) posted his Ninety-five Theses onto the door of the All
Saints' Church in Wittenberg, present-day Germany, marking the beginning
of the Protestant Reformation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-five_Theses>
1973:
Three Provisional Irish Republican Army members escaped from
Mountjoy Prison in Dublin aboard a hijacked helicopter that landed in
the prison's exercise yard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountjoy_Prison_helicopter_escape>
1999:
Australian sailor Jesse Martin arrived in Melbourne, becoming
the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo, non-stop, and
unassisted.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Martin>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bunny boiler:
(slang, humorous, derogatory) A person who acts (or may supposedly act)
obsessively or even dangerously towards another person with whom the
first person was previously, or wishes to be, in a relationship with.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bunny_boiler>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I assert that every man is a partialist; that nature secures him
as an instrument by self-conceit, preventing the tendencies to religion
and science; and now further assert, that, each man's genius being
nearly and affectionately explored, he is justified in his
individuality, as his nature is found to be immense; and now I add that
every man is a universalist also, and, as our earth, whilst it spins on
its own axis, spins all the time around the sun through the celestial
spaces, so the least of its rational children, the most dedicated to his
private affair, works out, though as it were under a disguise, the
universal problem. We fancy men are individuals; so are pumpkins; but
every pumpkin in the field, goes through every point of pumpkin history.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson>
Sorga Ka Toedjoe is a film from the Dutch East Indies (present-day
Indonesia) which had its premiere in Surabaya on 30 October 1940, one of
fourteen domestic productions released that year. The black-and-white
film featured traditional kroncong music and was targeted at native
audiences. It was directed by Joshua and Othniel Wong for Tan's Film, a
company owned by the ethnic Chinese brothers Khoen Yauw and Khoen Hian.
The Wongs had worked for Tan's since 1938, when they directed the hit
film Fatima featuring Rd Mochtar. Sorga Ka Toedjoe was the first
production by Tan's Film after Mochtar left the company. Starring
Roekiah and Djoemala as a younger couple and Kartolo and Annie Landouw
as an older couple, it was a commercial and critical success. Roekiah
and Djoemala took leading roles in three more films before Tan's closed
in 1942, following the Japanese occupation of the country. Sorga Ka
Toedjoe is now believed to be lost.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorga_Ka_Toedjoe>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1888:
King Lobengula of Matabeleland granted the Rudd Concession to
agents of Cecil Rhodes, setting in motion the creation of the British
South Africa Company.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudd_Concession>
1950:
Blanca Canales led the Jayuya Uprising against the Puerto Rican
government supported by the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayuya_Uprising>
1965:
English model Jean Shrimpton wore a controversially short
minidress to Derby Day at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne,
Australia – a pivotal moment of the introduction of the miniskirt to
women's fashion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_shift_dress_of_Jean_Shrimpton>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
escarole:
(Canada, US) A subspecies or variety of broad-leaved endive (Cichorium
endivia subsp. endivia, syn. Cichorium endivia var. latifolium), which
is eaten as a vegetable.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/escarole>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Let every declamation turn upon the beauty of liberty and virtue,
and the deformity, turpitude, and malignity, of slavery and vice. Let
the public disputations become researches into the grounds and nature
and ends of government, and the means of preserving the good and
demolishing the evil. Let the dialogues, and all the exercises, become
the instruments of impressing on the tender mind, and of spreading and
distributing far and wide, the ideas of right and the sensations of
freedom. In a word, let every sluice of knowledge be opened and set
a-flowing.
--John Adams
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Adams>
Operation Obviate was an unsuccessful British air raid of World War II
that targeted the German battleship Tirpitz (pictured in 1943 or 1944).
Conducted by Royal Air Force heavy bombers during the early hours of 29
October 1944, it sought to destroy the damaged battleship after she
moved to a new anchorage near Tromsø in northern Norway. The attack
followed the previous month's successful Operation Paravane, during
which Tirpitz was crippled by British heavy bombers. In Operation
Obviate, 38 bombers and a film aircraft departed from bases in northern
Scotland. Obscured by clouds, the battleship was not directly hit, but
was damaged by a bomb that exploded near her hull. A British bomber made
a crash landing in Sweden after being hit by German anti-aircraft fire,
and several others were damaged. The plans for the attack were reused
for the next raid on the battleship, Operation Catechism, on 12
November, when Tirpitz was sunk with heavy loss of life.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Obviate>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1955:
An explosion, likely caused by a World War II–era mine,
capsized the Soviet ship Novorossiysk in the harbor of Sevastopol, with
the loss of 608 men.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_battleship_Giulio_Cesare>
1969:
A student at UCLA sent the first message on the ARPANET
(message log shown), the precursor to the Internet, to a computer at the
Stanford Research Institute.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET>
1999:
About 10,000 people died when a tropical cyclone made landfall
in the Indian state of Odisha near the city of Bhubaneswar.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Odisha_cyclone>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
signage:
1. (uncountable) Signs, particularly those imparting commercial,
directional, or road traffic information, taken collectively.
2. (countable, chiefly India, elsewhere regarded as nonstandard) A
sign, a signboard.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/signage>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There is no better way of exercising the imagination than the
study of law. No poet ever interpreted nature as freely as a lawyer
interprets the truth.
--Jean Giraudoux
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Giraudoux>
The Rodrigues solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria) was a flightless bird that
was endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Rodrigues. With the extinct
dodo of Mauritius, it formed a subfamily of the pigeons and doves. The
male solitaire was much larger than the female and his plumage was a
darker grey-brown. Both sexes had a black band at the base of the hooked
beak and a long neck. They were territorial, using bony knobs on their
wings in combat. The female laid a single egg that was incubated by both
sexes. Their diet included fruits and seeds. The solitaire was first
described in detail by François Leguat, the leader of French Huguenot
refugees who were marooned on Rodrigues in 1691–1693, but little else
was known about the bird until the first of thousands of subfossil bones
were found in 1786. Hunted by humans and introduced animals, the
solitaire was extinct by the late 18th century. A former constellation
was named after it. (This article is part of a featured topic:
Raphinae.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Raphinae>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1891:
The Mino–Owari earthquake, the strongest known inland
earthquake in Japan's history, caused widespread damage and over 7,200
deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1891_Mino%E2%80%93Owari_earthquake>
1919:
The U.S. Congress passed the Volstead Act over President
Woodrow Wilson's veto, reinforcing Prohibition in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volstead_Act>
1925:
The funerary mask of Tutankhamun, possibly originally made for
Queen Neferneferuaten, was uncovered for the first time in 3,250 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mask_of_Tutankhamun>
1971:
Prospero, the only British satellite launched on a British
rocket to date, lifted off from Launch Area 5B at Woomera, South
Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospero_%28satellite%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
townland:
(Ireland) A geographical unit of land smaller than a parish.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/townland>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Last night, the United States brought the world's number one
terrorist leader to justice. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. He was the
founder and leader of ISIS, the most ruthless and violent terror
organization in the World. The United States has been searching for
Baghdadi for many years. Capturing or killing Baghdadi has been the top
national security priority of my Administration. U.S. Special Operations
forces executed a dangerous and daring nighttime raid into Northwestern
Syria to accomplish this mission.
--Donald Trump
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donald_Trump>
Sandringham House in Norfolk, England, is the private home of
Elizabeth II. Although architecturally undistinguished (Pevsner
Architectural Guides describing it as "frenetic Jacobean"), the house
has been a favoured residence of the Royal family for over 150 years.
The estate was bought in 1862 for Albert Edward, Prince of Wales.
Between 1870 and 1900 the house was rebuilt and Edward developed the
wider property into one of the best sporting estates in England.
George V inherited it in 1910 and in 1932 made the first ever Christmas
broadcast from the house. George died at Sandringham on 20 January 1936.
The property passed to his son Edward VIII, and at the abdication, it
was purchased by Edward's brother, George VI. As devoted to the house
as his father, he died there on 6 February 1952. On the King's death,
Sandringham was inherited by Elizabeth II. The Queen spends much of the
winter at the house, including the anniversary of her father's death and
of her own accession.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandringham_House>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1870:
Franco-Prussian War: The French Army of the Rhine under
François Bazaine was forced to surrender after a nine-week siege of the
fortifications of Metz.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Metz_%281870%29>
1904:
The first underground segment of the New York City Subway
opened, connecting New York City Hall (station pictured) with Harlem.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Subway>
1944:
World War II: German forces captured Banská Bystrica, the
center of anti-Nazi opposition in Slovakia, bringing the Slovak National
Uprising to an end.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bansk%C3%A1_Bystrica>
1999:
Armed men led by Nairi Hunanyan attacked the National Assembly
of Armenia, killing Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, President of the
National Assembly Karen Demirchyan, and six others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_parliament_shooting>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
get a word in edgewise:
(US, usually in the negative) To break into or participate in a
conversation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/get_a_word_in_edgewise>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. There
are many men who feel a kind of twisted pride in cynicism; there are
many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they
themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no
man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns
to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and
lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it
fails, comes to second achievement. A cynical habit of thought and
speech, a readiness to criticize work which the critic himself never
tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept
contact with life's realities — all these are marks, not as the
possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness.
--Theodore Roosevelt
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt>
Jaekelopterus was a predatory aquatic arthropod of the order of
eurypterids, often called sea scorpions. Its claws and compound eyes
indicate it was active and powerful with high visual acuity, most likely
an apex predator in the ecosystems of Euramerica. Fossils have been
discovered from roughly 400 million years ago, during the Early
Devonian. There are two known species: the type species J. rhenaniae
from brackish to fresh water strata in the Rhineland, and J. howelli
from estuarine strata in Wyoming. Based on isolated fossil remains from
the Klerf Formation of Germany, J. rhenaniae has been estimated to have
reached a size of around 2.3–2.6 metres (7.5–8.5 ft), making it the
largest arthropod ever discovered. J. howelli was much smaller, reaching
80 centimetres (2.6 ft) in length. In overall appearance, Jaekelopterus
was similar to other pterygotid eurypterids, with enlarged pincers and
forelimbs. The genus was named for German paleontologist Otto Jaekel,
who described the type species.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaekelopterus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1881:
The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, one of the most famous
shootouts of the American Old West, took place in Tombstone, Arizona,
between Ike Clanton's gang and lawmen led by Wyatt Earp.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunfight_at_the_O.K._Corral>
1909:
An Jung-geun, a Korean independence activist, assassinated Itō
Hirobumi, the president of the Privy Council of Japan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Jung-geun>
1977:
Somali hospital cook Ali Maow Maalin began displaying symptoms
of smallpox, becoming the last person to be naturally infected by the
disease.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Maow_Maalin>
2001:
President George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act into law,
significantly expanding the authority of law enforcement agencies in
fighting terrorism in the United States and elsewhere.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sheepshank:
(nautical) A type of knot which is useful for shortening a rope or
taking up slack without cutting it.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sheepshank>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
As the history majors among you here today know all too well,
when people in power invent their own facts and attack those who
question them, it can mark the beginning of the end of a free society.
That is not hyperbole. It is what authoritarian regimes throughout
history have done. They attempt to control reality. Not just our laws
and our rights and our budgets, but our thoughts and beliefs.
--Hillary Clinton
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton>
Science Fantasy was a British fantasy and science fiction magazine,
launched in 1950 by Nova Publications. John Carnell edited the magazine
beginning with the third issue, typically running a long lead novelette
along with several shorter stories. Prominent contributors in the 1950s
included John Brunner, Ken Bulmer, and Brian Aldiss, whose first novel
Nonstop appeared (in an early version) in the February 1956 issue.
Fantasy stories began to appear more frequently during the latter half
of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s Carnell began to publish Thomas
Burnett Swann's well-received historical fantasies. In the early 1960s
Carnell's efforts were rewarded with three consecutive Hugo nominations
for best magazine. After Nova went out of business in early 1964,
Roberts & Vinter took over as publishers until 1967. Kyril Bonfiglioli,
the editor, attracted new writers, including Keith Roberts, Brian
Stableford and Josephine Saxton. In the opinion of science fiction
historian Mike Ashley, the final year of the magazine, when it was
renamed Impulse, included some of the best material ever published in a
British science fiction magazine.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Fantasy_%28magazine%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1616:
The VOC sailing ship Eendracht reached Shark Bay on the western
coastline of Australia, as documented on the Hartog Plate etched by
explorer Dirk Hartog.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartog_Plate>
1944:
USS Tang, the U.S. Navy submarine credited with sinking more
ships than any other American submarine, sank when it was struck by its
own torpedo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Tang_%28SS-306%29>
1980:
Proceedings on the Hague Abduction Convention, a multilateral
treaty providing an expeditious method to return a child taken from one
member nation to another, concluded at The Hague.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hague_Convention_on_the_Civil_Aspects_of_Inte…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
croft:
An enclosed piece of land, usually small and arable and used for small-
scale food production, and often with a dwelling next to it; in
particular, such a piece of land rented to a farmer (a crofter),
especially in Scotland, together with a right to use separate
pastureland shared by other crofters.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/croft>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The greatest danger that threatens us is neither heterodox
thought nor orthodox thought, but the absence of thought.
--Henry Steele Commager
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Steele_Commager>
Distributed-element circuits are electrical circuits composed of lengths
of transmission lines or other distributed components. Used mostly at
microwave frequencies, they perform the same functions as conventional
circuits composed of passive components, such as capacitors, inductors,
and transformers. They are made by patterning the conducting medium
itself, rather than connecting pre-manufactured components with the
medium. A major advantage is that they can be produced cheaply on
printed circuit boards for consumer products, such as satellite
television. They are also made in coaxial and waveguide formats for
applications such as radar, satellite communication, and microwave
links. Distributed element circuits were used in radar in World War II,
and later in military, space, and broadcasting infrastructure.
Improvements in materials science led to broader applications, and they
can now be found in domestic products such as satellite dishes and
mobile phones.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed-element_circuit>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
The Brabant Revolution, sometimes considered as the first
expression of Belgian nationalism, began with the invasion of the
Austrian Netherlands by an émigré army from the Dutch Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabant_Revolution>
1889:
Sir Henry Parkes, the premier of the Colony of New South Wales,
gave a speech where he called for the federation of the six Australian
colonies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenterfield_Oration>
1912:
First Balkan War: Serbian forces defeated the Ottoman army at
the Battle of Kumanovo in the Kosovo Vilayet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kumanovo>
1949:
The cornerstone of the United Nations headquarters was laid in
New York City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headquarters_of_the_United_Nations>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
coin of the realm:
1. (law, dated) The legal money of a country.
2. (figuratively) Something that is valued like money within a
particular context.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coin_of_the_realm>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they
listen with the intent to reply.
--Stephen Covey
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Covey>
Retvizan was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian
Navy, launched on 23 October 1900. Named after a Swedish ship of the
line that was captured during the battle of Vyborg Bay in 1790, Retvizan
was transferred to the Far East in 1902. In the Russo-Japanese War, the
ship was torpedoed during the Japanese attack on Port Arthur on the
night of 8/9 February 1904 and grounded in the harbour entrance when she
attempted to take refuge inside. She was refloated and repaired in time
to join the rest of the 1st Pacific Squadron when they attempted to
reach Vladivostok through the Japanese blockade on 10 August. The
Japanese battle fleet engaged them again in the Battle of the Yellow
Sea, forcing most of the Russian ships to return to Port Arthur.
Retvizan was sunk there by Japanese howitzers in December, then raised
and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as Hizen in 1908. After
World War I she supported the Japanese intervention in the Russian
Civil War.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_battleship_Retvizan>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1850:
The first National Women's Rights Convention, presided over by
Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis, began in Worcester, Massachusetts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Women%27s_Rights_Convention>
1942:
World War II: Japanese forces began their ill-fated attempt to
recapture Henderson Field in Solomon Islands from the Americans.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_Henderson_Field>
1956:
The Hungarian Revolution began as a peaceful student
demonstration that attracted thousands as it marched through central
Budapest to the parliament building.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956>
1982:
An attempt to arrest members of a cult in Miracle Valley,
Arizona, led to a shootout in which two church members were killed and
seven police officers were injured.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Valley_shootout>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
manageable:
1. Capable of being managed or controlled.
2. Capable of being done or fulfilled; achievable.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/manageable>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Science is a kind of glorified tailoring enterprise, a method for
taking measurements that describe something — reality — that may not
be understood at all.
--Travels
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Travels_%28book%29>
The megabat family, Pteropodidae, includes the largest bat species, some
weighing up to 1.45 kg (3.2 lb) with wingspans up to 1.7 m (5.6 ft),
as well as smaller species, some less than 50 g (1.8 oz). They are
found in tropical and subtropical areas of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania.
Unlike other bats, they have dog-like faces and clawed second digits.
Well-adapted for flight, megabats have sustainable heart rates of more
than 700 beats per minute and large lungs. Most of them are active at
night. They roost in trees or caves, sometimes in colonies of up to a
million individuals. Most are unable to echolocate, relying instead on
their keen senses of sight and smell to navigate and locate food,
usually fruits or nectar. A quarter of all megabat species are listed as
threatened, due mainly to habitat destruction and overhunting. Even
though they can transmit a variety of dangerous viruses, they are a
popular food source for humans in some areas.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megabat>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1727:
George II and Caroline of Ansbach were crowned king and queen
of Great Britain in Westminster Abbey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_of_Ansbach>
1877:
Scotland's worst mining accident occurred when an explosion at
a colliery in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, killed 207 miners.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blantyre_mining_disaster>
1940:
After evading French and Spanish authorities, Belgian prime
minister Hubert Pierlot arrived in London, marking the beginning of the
Belgian government in exile.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_government_in_exile>
2001:
The controversial video game Grand Theft Auto III was first
released to critical acclaim, and went on to popularise open-world and
mature-content games.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_III>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lady-in-waiting:
1. A lady, often a noblewoman, in the household of a queen, princess, or
other woman of higher rank who attends her as a personal assistant,
generally a role considered an honour.
2. A woman who is a maid or servant to a lady, similar to a valet for a
gentleman.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lady-in-waiting>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something
you've understood all your life, but in a new way.
--Doris Lessing
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Doris_Lessing>