Title TK is the third studio album by American alternative rock band the
Breeders, released in May 2002 on 4AD. The album, whose name means
"title to come", generated three singles: "Off You", "Huffer", and "Son
of Three"; it reached the top 100 in France, Germany, the UK, and
Australia. After multiple changes in personnel and aborted recording
attempts in the mid-to-late 1990s, singer and songwriter Kim Deal
(pictured) began sessions with engineer Steve Albini in 1999. Musicians
Mando Lopez, Richard Presley, and Jose Medeles, as well as former member
Kelley Deal—Kim’s sister—joined the band, who continued recording
with Albini in 2001 in Chicago. Two other songs were recorded with
engineers Andrew Alekel and Mark Arnold in Los Angeles. The album has
received generally positive reviews from critics, who have noted its
inclusion of unexpected sounds, minimal instrumentation, and
unconventional, sometimes dark lyrics.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_TK>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1894:
The Manchester Ship Canal, linking Manchester in North West
England to the Irish Sea, officially opened, becoming the world's
largest navigation canal 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 end the fighting
between the forces of both men, concluding the initial phase of the
Mexican Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Ciudad_Ju%C3%A1rez>
1939:
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth dedicated Canada's National
War Memorial in Ottawa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_War_Memorial_%28Canada%29>
2005:
The world's tallest roller coaster, Kingda Ka, opened at Six
Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, U.S.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingda_Ka>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
orature:
The oral equivalent of literature: a collection of traditional folk
songs, stories, etc., that is communicated orally rather than in
writing. […]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/orature>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Some old men, by continually praising the time of their youth,
would almost persuade us that there were no fools in those days; but
unluckily they are left themselves for examples.
--Alexander Pope
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Pope>
Homer Davenport (1867–1912) was a political cartoonist and writer from
the United States. He is known for drawings that satirized figures of
the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, especially Ohio Senator Mark Hanna.
Although Davenport had no formal art training, he became one of the
highest paid political cartoonists in the world. He was also one of the
first major American breeders of Arabian horses and one of the founders
of the Arabian Horse Club of America. In 1893 he studied and drew the
Arabian horses exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition. In 1904 he
drew a favorable cartoon of President Theodore Roosevelt that boosted
Roosevelt's election campaign. The president in turn helped Davenport in
1906 when the cartoonist required diplomatic permission to travel abroad
in his quest to purchase pure desert-bred Arabian horses. The 27 horses
Davenport purchased and brought to America had a lasting impact on
Arabian horse breeding.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Davenport>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1609:
Thomas Thorpe published the first copies of Shakespeare's
sonnets, possibly without William Shakespeare's consent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%27s_sonnets>
1882:
The Triple Alliance was created between the German Empire,
Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Alliance_%281882%29>
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>
1993:
"One for the Road", the series finale of American television
sitcom Cheers, was watched by 42.4 million American households on its
original airing.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_for_the_Road_%28Cheers%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
caravel:
(nautical, historical) A light, usually lateen-rigged sailing ship used
by the Portuguese and Spanish for about 300 years from the 15th century,
first for trade and later for voyages of exploration.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/caravel>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A penniless man who has no ties to bind him is master of himself
at any rate, but a luckless wretch who is in love no longer belongs to
himself, and may not take his own life. Love makes us almost sacred in
our own eyes; it is the life of another that we revere within us; then
and so begins for us the cruelest trouble of all.
--Honoré de Balzac
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Honor%C3%A9_de_Balzac>
In the United States Senate Democratic primary election in Pennsylvania
on May 18, 2010, Congressman Joe Sestak (pictured) defeated incumbent
Arlen Specter, who had been in the Senate for five terms as a
Republican. Just before the primary campaign, Specter switched to the
Democratic Party in anticipation of a difficult primary challenge by Pat
Toomey. Sestak was ultimately defeated by Toomey in the general
election. Political observers and journalists described the race between
Specter and Sestak as one of the bitterest and most watched of all the
2010 primary elections. Specter led Sestak by more than 20 percentage
points for most of the race, but this lead narrowed in the final month
of the campaign, when Sestak concentrated his funds and efforts on
television commercials questioning Specter's Democratic credentials.
Political observers said that Sestak's commercials and a national swing
in momentum against incumbents harmed Specter's chances.
(Full article...) .
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_Senate_Democratic_primary_…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1655:
Anglo-Spanish War: England invaded Spanish Jamaica, capturing
it a week later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Jamaica>
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>
1911:
Parks Canada, the world's first national park service, was
established as the Dominion Parks Branch under the Department of the
Interior.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parks_Canada>
1991:
With the local Serb population boycotting the polls, voters in
Croatia passed a referendum supporting independence from the Socialist
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Croatian_independence_referendum>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gnomon:
1. An object such as a pillar or a rod that is used to tell time by the
shadow it casts when the sun shines on it, especially the pointer on a
sundial.
2. An object such as a pillar used by an observer to calculate the
meridian altitude of the sun (that is, the altitude of the sun when it
reaches the observer's meridian), for the purpose of determining the
observer's latitude.
3. The index of the hour circle of a globe.
4. (geometry) A plane figure formed by removing a parallelogram from a
corner of a larger parallelogram.
5. (mathematics, by extension) A number representing the increment
between two figurate numbers (“numbers equal to the numbers of dots in
geometric figures formed of dots”).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gnomon>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
For me the important distinction is between a stylistic approach
to the design; and an analytical approach giving the process of due
consideration to time, place, and purpose ... My analytical approach
requires a full understanding of the three essential elements ... to
arrive at an ideal balance among them.
--I. M. Pei
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/I._M._Pei>
Ludwigsburg Palace is a 452-room palace complex of 18 buildings in
Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the largest palatial
estate in the country and has been called the "Versailles of Swabia".
Eberhard Louis, Duke of Württemberg, began construction of the palace
in 1704. The son of his successor, Charles Eugene, completed it and
refurbished parts in the Rococo style, especially its theatre. Charles
Eugene abandoned the palace in 1775, and it began a decline until the
future Duke, and then King, Frederick moved in in 1795. As King,
Frederick, and his Queen, Charlotte, renovated the entirety of the
palace in the Neoclassical style. The palace was opened to the public in
1918. It underwent periods of restoration, including for its
tricentenary in 2004. It has hosted the Ludwigsburg Festival annually
since 1947. The palace is surrounded by gardens named Blooming Baroque
(Blühendes Barock), laid out in 1954 as they might have appeared in
1800.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwigsburg_Palace>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1863:
American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant led his Army of
the Tennessee across the Big Black River in preparation for the Siege of
Vicksburg.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Vicksburg>
1936:
In a crime that shocked Japan, Sada Abe strangled her lover
Kichizo Ishida, cut off his genitals, and carried them around with her
for several days until her arrest.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sada_Abe>
1965:
Eli Cohen, a spy who is credited with gathering significant
intelligence for Israel in the Six-Day War against Syria, was publicly
hanged after having been captured four months earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Cohen>
2009:
The Sri Lanka Army killed Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader
and founder of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, to bring an end to
the 26-year Sri Lankan Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velupillai_Prabhakaran>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
schlubby:
(chiefly US, informal) Clumsy, oafish, or socially awkward; unattractive
or unkempt.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/schlubby>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Every man would like to be God, if it were possible; some few
find it difficult to admit the impossibility.
--Bertrand Russell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell>
Edward II (1284–1327) was King of England from 1307 until he was
deposed in January 1327. He married Isabella, the daughter of the
powerful King Philip IV of France, in 1308. Edward had a close and
controversial relationship with Piers Gaveston, who had joined his
household in 1300. Gaveston's arrogance and power as Edward's favourite
provoked discontent among both the barons and the French royal family,
and Edward was forced to exile him. On Gaveston's return, the barons
pressured the king into agreeing to wide-ranging reforms, called the
Ordinances of 1311. A group of barons seized and executed Gaveston in
1312, beginning several years of armed confrontation. English forces
were pushed back in Scotland, where Edward was decisively defeated by
Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. After the exiled
Roger Mortimer invaded England with a small army in 1326, Edward's
regime collapsed and he relinquished his crown in favour of his 14-year-
old son, Edward III.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_II_of_England>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
The International Telecommunication Union, an international
organization that standardizes and regulates international radio and
telecommunications, was founded as the International Telegraph Union in
Paris.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Telecommunication_Union>
1954:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case Brown v.
Board of Education, outlawing racial segregation in public schools
because "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" and
therefore unconstitutional.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education>
1974:
The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force detonated a series of
car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, Ireland, killing 34 people and
injuring almost 300 more.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_and_Monaghan_bombings>
2009:
Dalia Grybauskaitė was elected the first female President of
Lithuania, receiving 69.1% of the vote.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalia_Grybauskait%C4%97>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fjord:
A long, narrow, deep inlet between cliffs.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fjord>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
People have often asked me, "If you weren’t in show business,
what would you be doing?" The truth is, I don’t think there’s
anything else I could be doing, so the answer would have to be, nothing.
Then again, there's nothing I love more than making people laugh, so I
guess you could say I’m in the only business I could be in. I was born
to enjoy life and I've always wanted everyone to enjoy it along with me.
--Tim Conway
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tim_Conway>
William H. Seward (May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872) was United States
Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869. A determined opponent of the
spread of slavery in the years leading up to the Civil War, he was a
dominant figure in the Republican Party in its formative years. While
Governor of New York, he signed laws that advanced the rights of black
residents. He was elected as a U.S. Senator in 1849, serving two six-
year terms. Though he was the favorite for the Republican presidential
nomination in 1860, delegates sought a moderate on the slavery question,
choosing Abraham Lincoln. As Secretary of State, his firm stance against
foreign intervention helped deter the United Kingdom and France from
entering the conflict. He was a target of the 1865 assassination plot
that killed Lincoln, and was seriously wounded by conspirator Lewis
Powell. Seward remained at his post through the presidency of Andrew
Johnson, during which he negotiated the Alaska Purchase in 1867.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Seward>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1929:
The 1st Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Hollywood
Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Academy_Awards>
1960:
American physicist Theodore Maiman operated the first working
laser at the Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Maiman>
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:
Japanese climber Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach
the summit of Mount Everest.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junko_Tabei>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
terse:
1. (obsolete) Burnished, polished; fine, smooth; neat, spruce.
2. (by extension) Of speech or style: brief, concise, to the point.
3. (by extension) Of manner or speech: abruptly or brusquely short;
curt.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/terse>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The really frightening thing about middle age is the knowledge
that you'll grow out of it.
--Doris Day
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Doris_Day>
Tropical Depression Nineteen-E was a weak tropical cyclone that caused
flooding in northwestern Mexico and the United States during the 2018
Pacific hurricane season. By September 7, 2018, the storm had entered
the northeastern Pacific Ocean, after crossing Central America. Despite
disorganization and its close proximity to land, the meandering
disturbance developed into a tropical depression in the Gulf of
California on September 19, with peak maximum sustained winds reported
as 35 mph (55 km/h). Although the storm quickly deteriorated after
landfall, thirteen people were killed in Chihuahua, Sinaloa, and Sonora,
and recorded agricultural losses exceeded US$40 million. Overall, the
storm affected eleven Mexican states, with torrential rainfall and
flooding in Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, and Sonora. Remnant moisture
from Nineteen-E led to severe flooding in the U.S. states of Arizona,
Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, with damage estimates totalling about
$250 million.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Depression_Nineteen-E_%282018%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1869:
Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (both pictured)
founded the National Woman Suffrage Association, breaking away from the
American Equal Rights Association which they had also previously
founded.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Woman_Suffrage_Association>
1904:
Russo-Japanese War: After striking several mines off Port
Arthur, the Japanese battleships Hatsuse and Yashima sank.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Yashima>
1948:
One day after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, Egypt,
Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invaded Israel to
begin the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_War>
2004:
Arsenal became the first football team in England's top flight
to finish a season undefeated since Preston North End did so in
1888–1889.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003%E2%80%9304_Arsenal_F.C._season>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
primigravida:
(obstetrics, veterinary medicine) A woman or female animal who is
pregnant for the first time, or who has been pregnant once.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/primigravida>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The Tin Woodman knew very well he had no heart, and therefore he
took great care never to be cruel or unkind to anything. "You people
with hearts," he said, "have something to guide you, and need never do
wrong; but I have no heart, and so I must be very careful. When Oz gives
me a heart of course I needn't mind so much."
--L. Frank Baum
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/L._Frank_Baum>
Faryl Smith (born 1995) is a British soprano who rose to fame after
competing on the second series of the ITV television show Britain's Got
Talent in 2008. Although she was a favourite to win after the second
round, and received praise throughout the competition, she finished
outside the top three in the live final. Smith signed a contract with
Universal Classics and Jazz for a £2.3 million advance in December
2008, the largest ever granted to a schoolgirl. Her debut album, Faryl,
was released in March 2009 and became the fastest-selling solo classical
album in British chart history, selling 29,200 copies in the first week.
Thanks to the album's success, Smith was nominated for two Classical
BRIT awards, becoming the youngest ever double nominee. Her second
album, and last with Universal, was Wonderland, which was released in
November 2009. Since the end of her contract with Universal, Smith has
continued to perform and record music.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faryl_Smith>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
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>
1939:
In Lima, Peru, Lina Medina became the youngest confirmed mother
in history, giving birth at the age of five years, seven months and
twenty-one days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lina_Medina>
1973:
The NASA space station Skylab was launched from Cape Canaveral.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab>
1980:
Salvadoran Civil War: Refugees trying to flee El Salvador were
attacked by both Salvadoran Armed Forces and the Honduran military,
resulting in at least 300 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumpul_River_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
up to something:
(idiomatic) Doing something mischievous or scheming.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/up_to_something>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Out of the dark we came, into the dark we go. Like a storm-driven
bird at night we fly out of the Nowhere; for a moment our wings are seen
in the light of the fire, and, lo! we are gone again into the Nowhere.
--H. Rider Haggard
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._Rider_Haggard>
Interstate 94 (I-94) in Michigan is a part of the U.S. Interstate
Highway System that runs east from the Indiana state line near Lake
Michigan through the southern Lower Peninsula to Detroit, then northeast
to Port Huron. I-94 extends west to Billings, Montana. In Michigan, it
is a state trunkline highway serving Benton Harbor, St. Joseph,
Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Jackson, Ann Arbor, and The Thumb, terminating
on the Blue Water Bridge at the Canadian border. By 1960, I-94 was
completed from New Buffalo to Detroit, and most of the rest of the route
was completed in the 1960s. The highway has one auxiliary route in
Michigan, I-194 in Battle Creek, and eight business routes. In 1987, a
plane crashed on the freeway during take-off from the airport in
Detroit. The routing of I-94 contains the first full freeway-to-freeway
interchange in the United States, and comprises the first complete
border-to-border toll-free freeway in a U.S. state.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_94_in_Michigan>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1861:
The Australian astronomer John Tebbutt discovered the Great
Comet of 1861 (depicted), through the tail of which the Earth passed
later that year.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/1861_J1>
1940:
Three days after becoming Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,
Winston Churchill gave his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech to the
House of Commons.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood,_toil,_tears,_and_sweat>
1995:
Alison Hargreaves became the first woman to reach the summit of
Mount Everest without the aid of Sherpas or bottled oxygen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Hargreaves>
2014:
The worst mining disaster in Turkish history took place when an
explosion caused an underground mine fire at a coal mine in Soma,
Manisa, leaving 301 people dead.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma_mine_disaster>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
slip-up:
(idiomatic) A (small) error or mistake; a (minor) misstep.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slip-up>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
God willeth that we endlessly hate the sin and endlessly love the
soul, as God loveth it.
--Julian of Norwich
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich>
Jules Massenet (12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer
of the Romantic era best known for his operas. The two most frequently
staged are Manon (1884) and Werther (1892). After winning the country's
top prize in music, the Prix de Rome, in 1863, he composed prolifically
in many genres. He wrote more than 40 stage works in a wide variety of
styles, from opéra-comique to grand-scale depictions of classical
myths, romantic comedies, and lyric dramas. He also composed oratorios,
ballets, cantatas, orchestral works, incidental music, piano pieces, and
songs. Massenet had a good sense of the theatre and of what would
succeed with the Parisian public, and he became the most popular
composer of opera in France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Although critics do not rank him among operatic geniuses such as Mozart,
Verdi and Wagner, his operas are now widely accepted as well-crafted and
intelligent products of the Belle Époque.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Massenet>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1863:
American Civil War: The Confederates were routed in the Battle
of Raymond, a small battle that had an inordinately large impact on the
Vicksburg Campaign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Raymond>
1941:
German engineer Konrad Zuse presented the Z3 (replica
pictured), the world's first working programmable, fully automatic
computer, to an audience of scientists in Berlin.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_%28computer%29>
1955:
The Allied occupation of Austria came to an end, with the
nation regaining its independence ten years after the end of World
War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied-occupied_Austria>
2006:
A cartoon that allegedly compared Iranian Azeris to cockroaches
was published in a magazine, sparking riots throughout the country.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_newspaper_cockroach_cartoon_controversy>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
motherhood statement:
(chiefly Canada, US) A vague, feel-good platitude, especially one made
by a politician, that few people would disagree with.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/motherhood_statement>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
For a while, I thought of myself as an atheist until I realized
it was a belief, too. It's a shame everything has to have a label. I
feel that if I was figuratively dropped on the Earth and there was a
political line, I would be just left of center. The difference for me is
that conservatives are more interested in property values and rights and
free markets, and liberals are more interested in human rights. In the
end, there are people who don't fit into the marketplace and are not
equipped. I believe the government should step in where the free market
fails.
--George Carlin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Carlin>