The echo parakeet (Psittacula eques) is a species of parrot endemic to
the Mascarene Islands of Mauritius and formerly Réunion. It is the only
living native parrot of these islands; all others have become extinct
due to human activity, including the subspecies P. e. eques, the
Réunion parakeet. The echo parakeet is 34–42 cm (13–17 in) long
and weighs 167–193 g (5.9–6.8 oz), with a wing-span of 49–54 cm
(19–21 in). It is generally green; the male has one black and one
pink collar, and the female has one green and one black. It is largely
restricted to the canopy of the Black River Gorges National Park in the
south west of Mauritius, feeding mainly on the fruits and leaves of
native plants. Due to destruction and alteration of its native habitat,
its numbers declined throughout the 20th century, reaching as few as
8–12 in the 1980s, when it was referred to as "the world's rarest
parrot". While it is still endangered, an intensive effort of captive
breeding has prevented its extinction.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_parakeet>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1819:
Arriving in Liverpool, SS Savannah became the first steamship
to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Savannah>
1959:
The extratropical remnants of an Atlantic hurricane reached the
Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Canada, capsizing at least 22 fishing boats and
causing 35 fatalities.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959_Escuminac_disaster>
1979:
Bill Stewart, an American journalist, was executed by
Nicaraguan Guardia forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Stewart_%28journalist%29>
1994:
A bomb explosion in the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, Iran, left
at least 25 dead and 70 to 300 injured.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Imam_Reza_shrine_bomb_explosion>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
steatopygous:
(physiology) Pertaining to steatopygia; having fat or prominent
buttocks.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/steatopygous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There are people who eat Earth and eat all the people on it like
in the Bible with the locusts. Then there are people who stand around
and watch them eat it. … Sometimes I think it ain't right to stand and
watch them do it.
--Lillian Hellman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lillian_Hellman>
Knight Lore is a 1984 action-adventure game that popularised isometric
graphics in video games. It was developed and published for the ZX
Spectrum by Ultimate Play the Game and written by Chris and Tim Stamper
(pictured). Each monochrome castle room consists of blocks to climb,
obstacles to avoid, and puzzles to solve. The game's novel image masking
technique, Filmation, let images appear to pass atop and behind each
other without distortion. By delaying the release until 1984, Ultimate
was able to release several titles quickly before other developers could
copy the style. Critics considered its technical solutions and isometric
3D style a harbinger of future game design. They praised the game's
controls and atmosphere of mystery, but noted its difficult gameplay and
criticised its sound and occasional graphical slowdown. It was named
game of the year by the Golden Joystick Awards and Popular Computing
Weekly readers. Though it was not the first isometric 3D video game,
Knight Lore popularised the format; its influence also persisted in
computer role-playing games. The game was later included in Rare's 2015
Xbox One retrospective compilation, Rare Replay.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_Lore>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1816:
The Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company, rival fur-
trading companies, engaged in a violent confrontation in present-day
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Seven_Oaks>
1939:
Former American baseball player Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, now commonly known in the United States
as "Lou Gehrig's Disease".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Gehrig>
1987:
Basque separatist group ETA detonated a car bomb at the
Hipercor shopping centre in Barcelona, killing 21 people and injuring 45
others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_Hipercor_bombing>
2009:
War in Afghanistan: British forces began Operation Panther's
Claw, in which more than 350 troops made an aerial assault on Taliban
positions in Southern Afghanistan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Panther%27s_Claw>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gurrier:
1. (dated) A street urchin.
2. A loutish young man; a ruffian.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gurrier>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A mere trifle consoles us, for a mere trifle distresses us.
--Pensées
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pens%C3%A9es>
The Astronomica is a Latin didactic poem about celestial phenomena,
written in hexameters and divided into five books. It was written c. AD
10–20 by a Roman poet whose name was likely Marcus Manilius. The
earliest work on astrology that is extensive, comprehensible, and mostly
intact, the poem focuses heavily on the zodiac. It espouses a Stoic,
deterministic understanding of a universe overseen by a god and governed
by reason. It was rediscovered in the 15th century by the Italian
humanist and scholar Poggio Bracciolini, who had a copy made from which
the modern text derives. The Astronomica was read, commented upon, and
edited by scholars, but then was neglected for centuries. This started
to change during the early 20th century when the classicist A. E.
Housman published a critically acclaimed edition of the poem. Housman's
work was followed by the Latinist G. P. Goold's lauded English
translation in 1977.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomica_%28Manilius%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1815:
War of the Seventh Coalition: Napoleon Bonaparte fought and
lost his final battle, the Battle of Waterloo, in present-day Belgium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Waterloo>
1982:
The body of Italian banker Roberto Calvi, known as "God's
Banker" due to his close association with the Vatican, was found hanging
from scaffolding beneath London's Blackfriars Bridge.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Calvi>
2009:
NASA launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, its first
mission to the moon in over ten years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Reconnaissance_Orbiter>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
meet one's Waterloo:
To be decisively defeated by an encounter with a powerful opponent or a
problem that is too difficult.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meet_one%27s_Waterloo>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We observe that nothing creates fascists like the threat of
freedom. Pleasantville is the kind of parable that encourages us to re-
evaluate the good old days and take a fresh look at the new world we so
easily dismiss as decadent. Yes, we have more problems. But also more
solutions, more opportunities and more freedom. I grew up in the '50s.
It was a lot more like the world of Pleasantville than you might
imagine. Yes, my house had a picket fence, and dinner was always on the
table at a quarter to six, but things were wrong that I didn't even know
the words for.
--Roger Ebert
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Ebert>
North-Eastern Area Command was one of several geographically based
commands raised by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World
War II. It was formed in January 1942 and controlled units in central
and northern Queensland, and Papua New Guinea. Headquartered at
Townsville, Queensland, North-Eastern Area Command's responsibilities
included air defence, aerial reconnaissance and protection of the sea
lanes within its boundaries. Its flying units, equipped with fighters,
reconnaissance bombers, dive bombers and transports, took part in the
battles of Rabaul, Port Moresby and Milne Bay in 1942, and the landings
at Hollandia and Aitape in 1944. The area command continued to operate
after the war, but its assets and staffing were much reduced. Its
responsibilities were subsumed in February 1954 by the RAAF's new
functional commands: Home (operational), Training, and Maintenance
Commands. The area headquarters was disbanded in December 1956 and re-
formed as Headquarters RAAF Townsville.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-Eastern_Area_Command>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1631:
Mumtaz Mahal, wife of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, died in
childbirth; Jahan spent the next seventeen years constructing her
mausoleum, the Taj Mahal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal>
1876:
Great Sioux War: A band of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne attacked a
United States Army expedition and its Crow and Shoshone allies in the
Battle of the Rosebud.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Rosebud>
1940:
Second World War: Britain's worst maritime disaster occurred
when at least 3,000 people were killed as a result of the troopship
RMS Lancastria's sinking by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Lancastria>
1985:
On board Space Shuttle Discovery, Sultan bin Salman Al Saud
became the first Arab, the first Muslim, and the first astronaut of
royal blood to fly in outer space.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_bin_Salman_Al_Saud>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gastrodiplomacy:
A type of cultural diplomacy where relations between representatives of
different cultures are improved by the means of gastronomy and the
promotion of national cuisines.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gastrodiplomacy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It has been deduced from Hitler’s great power over the masses
that the Germans are an unusually suggestible race. But in all countries
and at all times men have succumbed to the suggestive powers of unusual
personalities, even if the wielders of those powers were not always good
men in the Christian sense.
--Heinz Guderian
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heinz_Guderian>
Gallimimus was a theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Mongolia
about 70 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous. The genus is
part of the ostrich dinosaur group of feather-bearing, fast runners. Its
head was small and light with large eyes and a bulbous structure at the
base of the skull. The snout was longer, broader and more rounded than
in similar species. Its horny beak was toothless with a delicate lower
jaw. The neck and legs were long, and the weak forelimbs had short
three-fingered hands. Several of its fossils were discovered in the Gobi
Desert in the 1960s. Gallimimus means "chicken mimic", from the shape of
its neck vertebrae. It may have had good vision and intelligence
comparable to ratite birds, living in groups as an omnivore, a filter-
feeder or a herbivore. Gallimimus was featured in the film Jurassic Park
in a scene that included innovative special effects and shaped the
popular view of these dinosaurs as bird-like animals.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallimimus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1819:
A strong earthquake in the Kutch district of Gujarat, India,
caused a local zone of uplift that dammed the Nara river, which was
later named the Allah Bund ('Dam of God').
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1819_Rann_of_Kutch_earthquake>
1904:
Irish author James Joyce began his relationship with Nora
Barnacle, and subsequently used the date to set the actions for his 1922
novel Ulysses.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce>
1958:
Imre Nagy and other leaders of the failed Hungarian Revolution
of 1956 were executed following secret trials.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imre_Nagy>
2016:
Jo Cox, a British Member of Parliament, was murdered in her
constituency.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jo_Cox>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
nuke:
1. (transitive, chiefly US, colloquial) To use a nuclear weapon on a
target.
2. (transitive, chiefly US, colloquial, figuratively) To destroy or
erase completely.
3. (transitive, Internet slang, by extension) To carry out a denial-of-
service attack against (an IRC user).
4. (transitive, chiefly US, colloquial) To expose to some form of
radiation.
5. (transitive, chiefly US, colloquial) To cook in a microwave oven.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nuke>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If you are a writer you locate yourself behind a wall of silence
and no matter what you are doing, driving a car or walking or doing
housework — you can still be writing, because you have that space.
--Joyce Carol Oates
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joyce_Carol_Oates>
Adam Eckfeldt (June 15, 1769 – February 6, 1852) was the second chief
coiner of the United States Mint. His father owned a large smithy and
involved himself in early attempts at American coinage. Eckfeldt built
early presses for the Mint, engraved some of its early dies, and was
responsible for some designs of early American copper pieces, as well as
the 1792 half disme, which some authorities consider the first United
States coin. He was appointed assistant coiner of the Mint in 1796, and
became chief coiner after his predecessor's death in 1814. During
Eckfeldt's tenure, the Philadelphia Mint moved to new premises and
expanded its operations. Setting aside unusual coins that were brought
in as bullion, he started the Mint's coin cabinet, which evolved into
the National Numismatic Collection. Despite his 1839 retirement,
Eckfeldt continued performing the duties of chief coiner until his
death, though his successor, Franklin Peale, bore the title.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Eckfeldt>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1878:
Eadweard Muybridge took a series of photographs to prove that
all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it gallops (animation
pictured), which became the basis of motion pictures.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallie_Gardner_at_a_Gallop>
1919:
After nearly 16 hours in the air, the Vickers Vimy flown by
John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown crash-landed in County Galway,
Ireland, completing the first non-stop transatlantic flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_flight_of_Alcock_and_Brown>
1944:
In the Saskatchewan general election, the Co-operative
Commonwealth Federation led by Tommy Douglas won enough seats in the
Legislative Assembly to form the first socialist government in North
America.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Douglas>
1996:
The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a
truck bomb in the commercial centre of Manchester, England, injuring
more than 200 people and causing widespread damage to buildings.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Manchester_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lion's share:
(idiomatic) The majority; a large or generous portion.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lion%27s_share>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There is nothing like an odor to stir memories.
--William McFee
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_McFee>
"Ice" is the eighth episode of the first season of the American science
fiction television series The X-Files. Premiering on the Fox network on
November 5, 1993, "Ice" was directed by David Nutter (pictured) and
written by Glen Morgan and James Wong. The debut was watched by
10 million viewers in 6.2 million households and received largely
positive reviews from critics, who praised its tense atmosphere. In the
episode, FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully
(Gillian Anderson) investigate the deaths of an isolated Alaskan
research team. The agents and their team discover the existence of
extraterrestrial parasitic organisms which drive their hosts into
impulsive fits of rage. The episode was inspired by an article in
Science News about an excavation in Greenland, and series creator Chris
Carter also cited John W. Campbell's 1938 novella Who Goes There? as an
influence.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_%28The_X-Files%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1800:
War of the Second Coalition: In the Battle of Marengo,
Napoleonic forces secured victory over the Habsburgs when defeat had
appeared inevitable until the arrival of French troops led by Louis
Desaix.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marengo>
1900:
The second of the German Naval Laws was passed, doubling the
size of the Imperial German Navy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Naval_Laws>
1949:
Albert II became the first monkey in space, reaching an
altitude of 134 km (83 mi) in a V-2 rocket.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkeys_and_apes_in_space>
1966:
The Vatican formally abolished its 427-year-old list of
prohibited books (title page pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_Librorum_Prohibitorum>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bloviation:
(US, possibly originally Ohio, informal) A lengthy discourse in a
boastful or pompous manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bloviation>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.
--Donald Trump
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donald_Trump>
Newberry Volcano is a large shield-shaped stratovolcano located 35 miles
(56 km) east of the major crest of the Cascade Range and about 20 miles
(32 km) south of Bend, Oregon, within the Newberry National Volcanic
Monument. Considered an active volcano, it is closely monitored with
sensors by the United States Geological Survey. Newberry is the largest
volcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc, with a total volume of
approximately 120 cubic miles (500 km3) and a caldera (pictured) 4 by 5
miles (6.4 km × 8.0 km) in diameter. It was named for the geologist
and surgeon John Strong Newberry, who explored central Oregon for the
Pacific Railroad Surveys in 1855. The surrounding area has been
inhabited by Native American populations for more than 10,000 years. The
volcano and its vicinity include many pyroclastic cones, lava flows, and
lava domes, with more than 400 vents, the most of any volcano in the
contiguous United States. Newberry Volcano is a popular destination for
recreational activities.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newberry_Volcano>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1525:
Martin Luther married Katharina von Bora, defying the celibacy
discipline decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for priests.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharina_von_Bora>
1955:
Soviet geologists discovered a diamond-bearing deposit in
Eastern Siberia, leading to the construction of the Mir mine, the first
diamond mine in the USSR and the second-largest excavated hole in the
world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_mine>
1969:
Governor of Texas Preston Smith signed a law converting a
research arm of Texas Instruments into the University of Texas at
Dallas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_at_Dallas>
1983:
Pioneer 10 passed the orbit of Neptune, becoming the first man-
made object to leave the proximity of the major planets of the Solar
System.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_10>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
nitrox:
1. (metallurgy) An industrial process for case hardening (imparting
greater surface hardness to) metal objects, involving nitrocarburizing
(the diffusion of carbon and nitrogen into the metal) followed by
oxidation.
2. (underwater diving) A mixture of nitrogen and oxygen, the nitrogen
content being lower than what is normally present in air, which is used
in place of air as a breathing gas.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nitrox>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The worst sin — perhaps the only sin — passion can commit, is
to be joyless.
--Dorothy L. Sayers
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dorothy_L._Sayers>
RSPB Dearne Valley Old Moor is an 89-hectare (220-acre) wetlands nature
reserve in the Dearne Valley near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, run by the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). It lies on the
junction of the A633 and A6195 roads and is bordered by the Trans
Pennine Trail long-distance path. Old Moor is managed to benefit
bitterns, breeding waders such as lapwings, redshanks and avocets, and
wintering golden plovers. Passerine birds include a small colony of tree
sparrows and good numbers of willow tits, thriving despite a steep
decline elsewhere in the UK. The reserve, along with others nearby,
forms part of a landscape-scale project to create wildlife habitat in
the Dearne Valley. As of 2018, the reserve had about 100,000 visits per
year. It may benefit from future habitat creation beyond the reserve
and improved accessibility, although there is also a potential threat
from climate change and flooding.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSPB_Dearne_Valley_Old_Moor>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1864:
Union General Ulysses S. Grant pulled his troops out of the
Battle of Cold Harbor in Hanover County, Virginia, ending one of the
bloodiest, most lopsided battles in the American Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cold_Harbor>
1942:
On her thirteenth birthday, Anne Frank began keeping her diary
during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diary_of_a_Young_Girl>
1994:
The Boeing 777, the world's largest twinjet, made its first
flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_777>
1999:
In the aftermath of the bombing of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo
War, the NATO-led Kosovo Force entered Kosovo with a mandate of
establishing a secure environment in the territory.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_Force>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tokamak:
(nuclear physics) A torus-shaped chamber used in nuclear fusion research
in which a plasma is magnetically confined.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tokamak>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the
present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after
moment. There will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue.
Live being true to the single purpose of the moment.
--Yamamoto Tsunetomo
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yamamoto_Tsunetomo>
Cyclone Raja was a severe tropical cyclone that spawned in the South
Pacific in December 1986. It holds the 24-hour rainfall record of
674.9 mm (26.57 in) for the French Overseas Territory of Wallis and
Futuna. After it was named on 23 December, it unexpectedly headed
southeast toward Futuna. The system peaked at Category 3 on 28 December,
with sustained winds of around 150 km/h (90 mph). It turned southwest
the next day, toward Fiji and several smaller islands in the Lau group.
The storm dissipated on 5 January over the north Tasman Sea. Raja caused
two deaths as it impacted the island nations of Tuvalu, Wallis and
Futuna, Tonga and Fiji. Gusty winds and rough seas caused extensive
damage to crops, coastal installations and buildings in Tuvalu, and
greater destruction in Futuna. Raja was responsible for the worst flood
of the Labasa River in Fiji since 1929. The name Raja was later retired
from the South Pacific naming lists.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Raja>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1594:
In the Philippines, Philip II of Spain recognized the right to
govern of the Principalía, the local nobles and chieftains who had
converted to Roman Catholicism.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal%C3%ADa>
1963:
The University of Alabama was desegregated as Governor George
Wallace stepped aside after defiantly blocking the entrance to an
auditorium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand_in_the_Schoolhouse_Door>
2008:
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologised to the First
Nations for past governments' policies of forced assimilation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Indian_residential_school_system>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
esquamulose:
(botany, mycology) Not covered in scales or scale-like objects; having a
smooth skin or outer covering.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/esquamulose>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
He is a narrow-minded man, that affects a triumph in any glorious
study; but to triumph in a lie, and a lie themselves have forged, is
frontless. Folly often goes beyond her bounds; but Impudence knows none.
--Ben Jonson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Jonson>