Istiodactylus was a pterosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous.
The first fossil of the genus was discovered on the Isle of Wight in
England. More specimens were later found, including a species from
China, I. sinensis, which possibly belongs to a different genus.
Istiodactylus (from Greek for "sail finger") was a large pterosaur;
estimates of its wingspan range from 4.3 to 5 metres (14 to 16 ft)
long. Its skull was about 45 centimetres (18 in) long, and was
relatively short and broad for a pterosaur. The front of the snout was
low and blunt, and bore a semicircle of 48 interlocked teeth. It had
very large forelimbs, with a wing-membrane distended by a long wing-
finger, but the hindlimbs were very short. It was a scavenger that may
have used its distinctive teeth to sever morsels from large carcasses.
The wings may have been adapted for soaring, which would have helped it
find carcasses. Istiodactylus is known from the Wessex Formation and the
younger Vectis Formation.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istiodactylus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1833:
Noongar warrior Yagan (statue pictured), wanted for leading
attacks on white colonists in Western Australia, was killed, becoming a
symbol of the unjust and sometimes brutal treatment of the indigenous
peoples of Australia by colonial settlers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yagan>
1921:
Former President of the United States William Howard Taft was
sworn in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, making him the only
person to ever hold both positions.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft>
1943:
The bloodiest day of a massive ethnic cleansing operation took
place, where units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army attacked and burned
various Polish villages in the Volhynia region of present-day Ukraine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia_and_Eastern_Ga…>
1991:
Shortly after takeoff from King Abdulaziz International
Airport, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 caught fire and
crashed, killing all 261 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria_Airways_Flight_2120>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
athanor:
(historical) A furnace or stove designed and used to maintain uniform
heat, primarily used by alchemists.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/athanor>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it
were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the
morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a
desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the
day.
--E. B. White
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/E._B._White>
Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham (1402 – 10 July 1460) was
an English nobleman and a military commander who fought for the
Lancastrian King Henry VI during the Wars of the Roses, where he was
killed at the Battle of Northampton. Through his mother he had royal
blood as a great-grandson of King Edward III, and from his father, he
inherited the earldom of Stafford. He joined the English campaign in
France with King Henry V in 1420. Following the king's death two years
later, he became a councillor for the nine-month-old King Henry VI.
Stafford acted as a peacemaker during the 1430s, when Humphrey, Duke of
Gloucester vied with Cardinal Beaufort for political supremacy. He took
part in the eventual arrest of Gloucester in 1447. He was the King's
bodyguard and chief negotiator during Jack Cade's Rebellion of 1450. In
1455 he fought for the King in the first battle of the Wars of the
Roses, at St Albans, where they were both captured by the Yorkists. He
spent the last years of his life attempting to mediate between the
Yorkist and Lancastrian factions.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphrey_Stafford,_1st_Duke_of_Buckingham>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1645:
English Civil War: The Parliamentarians destroyed the last
Royalist field army at the Battle of Langport, ultimately giving
Parliament control of the West of England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Langport>
1913:
The air temperature in Furnace Creek, California, reached
134 °F (56.7 °C), the highest reading ever recorded on Earth.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furnace_Creek,_California>
1925:
Indian mystic and spiritual master Meher Baba began his silence
until his death in 1969, only communicating by means of an alphabet
board or by unique hand gestures.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meher_Baba>
1941:
The Holocaust: A group of non-Jewish ethnic Poles from around
the nearby area murdered hundreds of Jewish residents of Jedwabne in
occupied Poland
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedwabne_pogrom>
1999:
The United States defeated China in the final match of the FIFA
Women's World Cup, setting records in both attendance and television
ratings for women's sports.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_FIFA_Women%27s_World_Cup>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gorge:
1. (intransitive, reflexive) Often followed by on: To stuff the gorge or
gullet with food; to eat greedily and in large quantities.
2. (transitive) To swallow, especially with greediness, or in large
mouthfuls or quantities.
3. (transitive) To fill up to the throat; to glut, to satiate.
4. (transitive) To fill up (an organ, a vein, etc.); to block up or
obstruct; (US, specifically) of ice: to choke or fill a channel or
passage, causing an obstruction.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gorge>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
United teams win. Divided teams lose. Play to our multicultural
strengths. Stop preaching the messages of hate and division in your
campaign themes. And now, a message to both parties. Please remember
that those who have participated in the United We Stand America movement
are intelligent, thinking, responsible people. They are not unprogrammed
robots who can be emotionally swayed by your negative ads or messages of
fear and divisiveness. Bluntly, you will have to face the issues to get
their votes. Mud wrestling and messages aimed at destroying your
opponent and his loved ones won't work. I love the American people and
I am sure that you do, too. I owe them a debt I can never repay and so
do you. Today, their Government is a mess, and they want it fixed. By
joining together as the owners of this great country, they can solve
these problems. As I've said before, it is time to clean out the barn
— join us — pick up a shovel. Get to work!
--Ross Perot
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ross_Perot>
Vardar was the eventual name of a Sava-class river monitor, originally
built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy as SMS Bosna, that went into service
on 9 July 1915. During World War I she fought the Serbian Army, the
Romanian Navy and Army, and the French Army. After briefly serving with
the Hungarian People's Republic at the end of the war, she was
transferred to the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
(later Yugoslavia), and renamed Vardar. She remained in service
throughout the interwar period. During the first few days of the German-
led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, she laid mines in the
Danube near the Romanian border as the flagship of the 1st Monitor
Division. She fought off several attacks by the Luftwaffe, but was
forced to withdraw to Belgrade. Due to high river levels and low
bridges, navigation became difficult, and she was scuttled on 11 April
by her crew, who were later killed or captured.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslav_monitor_Vardar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1701:
The Battle of Carpi, the first battle of the War of the Spanish
Succession, took place near Legnago, Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Carpi>
1790:
Russo-Swedish War: During the Second Battle of Svensksund in
the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captured one third of the Russian
fleet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Svensksund>
1962:
The United States conducted the Starfish Prime high-altitude
nuclear test, the largest nuclear explosion in outer space.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime>
1981:
Nintendo released the arcade game Donkey Kong, which featured
the debut of Mario, one of the most famous characters in video game
history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hyperparasite:
1. (biology) Any parasite whose host is a parasite.
2. (entomology, specifically) An insect that parasitizes another
parasitic insect.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hyperparasite>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I wanted to live my life so that people would know unmistakably
that I am alive, so that when I finally die people will know the
difference for sure between my living and my death.
--June Jordan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/June_Jordan>
James Bennett McCreary (July 8, 1838 – October 8, 1918) was an
American politician from Kentucky who served in both houses of Congress
and twice as the state's governor. During the American Civil War, he
fought under Confederate Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan. In 1869, he
was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives where he served
until 1875; he was twice chosen Speaker of the House. In 1875, the
Democrats chose McCreary to run for governor, and he defeated Republican
John Marshall Harlan. In 1884, McCreary was elected to the first of six
consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. After two failed
bids for election to the Senate, the legislature elected him in 1902,
but he failed to gain renomination. In 1909, McCreary gained a second
term as governor, defeating Edward C. O'Rear in the general election; he
died in 1918. McCreary County, named in his honor, was formed during his
second term..
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCreary_County,_Kentucky>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1663:
King Charles II of England granted John Clarke the Rhode Island
Royal Charter, described by one historian as "the grandest instrument of
human liberty ever constructed".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Clarke_%28Baptist_minister%29>
1808:
Joseph Bonaparte approved the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter
intended as the basis for his rule as King of Spain during the
Peninsular War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonne_Statute>
1947:
After news reports of the capture of a "flying disc" by U.S.
Army Air Force personnel in Roswell, New Mexico, the military stated
that what was recovered was debris from an experimental high-altitude
surveillance weather balloon.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pessimize:
1. (transitive) To take a pessimistic view of; to speak of in a negative
or pessimistic way.
2. (transitive) To make (something) pessimal or the worst; (in a weaker
sense) to make (something, such as a computer program) less efficient.
3. (intransitive) To think like a pessimist; to believe the worst.
4. (intransitive) To become pessimal or the worst.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pessimize>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A miracle worker is an artist of the soul. There’s no higher
art than living a good life. An artist informs the world of what’s
available behind the masks we all wear. That’s what we’re all here
to do. The reason so many of us are obsessed with becoming stars is
because we’re not yet starring in our own lives. The cosmic spotlight
isn’t pointed at you; it radiates from within you.
--Marianne Williamson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marianne_Williamson>
The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the world
championship for national teams in women's association football. Hosted
by the United States, it took place from 19 June to 10 July 1999 at
eight venues across the country. The 1999 edition was the first to field
sixteen teams and an all-female roster of referees and match officials.
It was played primarily in large American football venues, with an
average attendance of 37,319 spectators per match and total attendance
of 1.194 million, a record that stood until 2015. The final, played at
the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, was attended by 90,185 people,
setting an international record for spectators at a women's sporting
event. The United States won the tournament by defeating China in a
penalty shootout after a scoreless draw. The tournament increased
interest in women's soccer in the United States, and led to the
establishment of a professional league.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_FIFA_Women%27s_World_Cup>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1798:
Outraged by the XYZ Affair, the United States rescinded its
treaties with France, resulting in the Quasi-War, an undeclared war
fought entirely at sea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasi-War>
1907:
Inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris, American impresario
Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. staged the first of his Ziegfeld Follies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florenz_Ziegfeld_Jr.>
1954:
After the culmination of the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état,
Carlos Castillo Armas was sworn in as President of Guatemala.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Castillo_Armas>
1991:
The signing of the Brioni Agreement brought an end to the Ten-
Day War between SFR Yugoslavia and Slovenia, although the Yugoslav Wars
continued for years to come.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brioni_Agreement>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hebdomad:
1. (obsolete) A group of seven.
2. A period of seven days; a week.
3. (Gnosticism) A group of seven world-creating archons (supernatural
beings) often regarded as somewhat hostile; also, a term of address for
the Demiurge (“a being sometimes seen as the creator of evil”).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hebdomad>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The next level in moral behavior higher than that exhibited by
the baboon is that in which duty and loyalty are shown toward a group of
your own kind too large for an individual to know all of them. We have a
name for that. It is called "patriotism." Behaving on a still higher
moral level were the astronauts who went to the Moon, for their actions
tend toward the survival of the entire race of mankind. The door they
opened leads to the hope that H. sapiens will survive indefinitely long,
even longer than this solid planet on which we stand tonight. As a
direct result of what they did, it is now possible that the human race
will never die. Many short-sighted fools think that going to the Moon
was just a stunt. But the astronauts knew the meaning of what they were
doing, as is shown by Neil Armstrong's first words in stepping down onto
the soil of Luna: "One small step for a man, one giant leap for
mankind."
--Robert A. Heinlein
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein>
The yellow-tailed black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus) is a large
cockatoo native to the south-east of Australia. It has a short crest on
its head, its plumage is mostly brownish-black, and it has yellow cheek
patches and a yellow tail band. The male has a black beak and pink eye-
rings and the female has a bone-coloured beak and grey eye-rings. The
cockatoos flap deeply and slowly in flight, and their loud wailing calls
carry for long distances. They are found in forests from eastern
Queensland to southeastern South Australia. Two subspecies are
recognised, although Tasmanian and southern mainland populations may be
a third. The cockatoos feed on wood-boring grubs and seeds. They nest in
hollows in large trees, and although they remain common throughout much
of their range, habitat fragmentation and loss of suitable trees has
caused local population declines. In some urban areas the cockatoos have
adapted to humans. This species is listed by CITES, an international
protection agreement.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-tailed_black_cockatoo>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1809:
Napoleon's French forces defeated Archduke Charles' Austrian
army at the Battle of Wagram, the decisive confrontation of the War of
the Fifth Coalition.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wagram>
1919:
The Royal Air Force's R34 airship landed in Mineola, New York,
to complete the first east-to-west transatlantic crossing by an
aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R33-class_airship>
1989:
A Palestinian Islamic Jihad member carried out a suicide attack
by hijacking a bus and forcing it into a ravine near Kiryat Ye'arim,
Israel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Aviv%E2%80%93Jerusalem_bus_405_suicide_at…>
2009:
Jadranka Kosor became the first female prime minister of
Croatia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadranka_Kosor>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ensorcell:
1. (transitive) To bewitch or enchant.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To captivate, entrance, fascinate.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ensorcell>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Down through the years, African Americans have upheld the ideals
of America by exposing laws and habits contradicting those ideals. …
At every turn, the struggle for equality was resisted by many of the
powerful. And some have said we should not judge their failures by the
standards of a later time, yet in every time there were men and women
who clearly saw this sin and called it by name. We can fairly judge the
past by the standards of President John Adams, who called slavery "an
evil of colossal magnitude". We can discern eternal standards in the
deeds of William Wilberforce and John Quincy Adams and Harriet Beecher
Stowe and Abraham Lincoln. These men and women, black and white, burned
with a zeal for freedom and they left behind a different and better
nation. Their moral vision caused Americans to examine our hearts, to
correct our Constitution and to teach our children the dignity and
equality of every person of every race. … My Nation's journey toward
justice has not been easy, and it is not over. The racial bigotry fed by
slavery did not end with slavery or with segregation. And many of the
issues that still trouble America have roots in the bitter experience of
other times. But however long the journey, our destination is set:
liberty and justice for all.
--George W. Bush
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_W._Bush>
Eve Russell is a fictional character on the American soap opera
Passions, which aired on NBC from 1999 to 2007 and on DirecTV in
2007–08. Created by the soap's head writer, James E. Reilly, Eve was
played by Tracey Ross for the series' entire run. In 2003, actresses
Amanda Maiden and Kimberly Kevon Williams played the character in
flashbacks to her childhood and her time as a nightclub singer. Ross was
initially hesitant to audition for the role following her negative
experience on Ryan's Hope, but was attracted to the show after learning
about its supernatural and fantasy elements. Her casting was part of
NBC's attempt to include a racially diverse ensemble on daytime
television. She based her performance on Joanne Woodward's role in the
1957 film The Three Faces of Eve and Catherine Halsey from Ayn Rand's
1943 novel, The Fountainhead. Eve, part of Passions' Russell family, is
introduced as a perfect wife and mother, but her desperation eventually
leads to the breakup of her marriage and family. Ross received eight
nominations for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a
Daytime Drama Series, winning at the 38th NAACP Image Awards.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Russell>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
Royal assent was given to an Act of Parliament allowing the
Talyllyn Railway to carry passengers by steam haulage – the first
narrow-gauge railway in Britain to do so from the start.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talyllyn_Railway>
1934:
Police in San Francisco opened fire on a crowd of longshoremen
(confrontation pictured) who had been on strike for nearly two months,
killing two.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934_West_Coast_waterfront_strike>
1969:
The Rolling Stones performed at a free festival in Hyde Park,
London, in front of at least a quarter of a million fans, two days after
the death of founder Brian Jones.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stones_in_the_Park>
2009:
A series of violent riots broke out in Ürümqi, the capital
city of Xinjiang in China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2009_%C3%9Cr%C3%BCmqi_riots>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
coffee table book:
A large book, usually with lavish illustrations, typically displayed on
a coffee table.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coffee_table_book>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction; or,
the mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal, and
directed to contrary parts.
--Isaac Newton
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton>
In the 1927 Chicago mayoral election, Republican candidate William Hale
Thompson (campaign poster shown) defeated Democratic incumbent William
Emmett Dever. Dever had enforced Prohibition despite his opposition to
it, which led to rising violence in the city. Thompson, who had been
mayor from 1915 to 1923, was openly backed by the mobster Al Capone. He
promised to end the enforcement of Prohibition, bitterly attacked his
opponents throughout the campaign, and claimed that the United Kingdom
was conspiring to take back control of the United States. Dever's
supporters attempted to push back against Thompson's rhetoric and
claims; they insisted that Dever had the attitude and policies
appropriate for the city. Thompson, the last non-Democrat to win a
Chicago mayoral election, damaged Chicago's reputation across the United
States, and historians rank him among the most unethical mayors in
American history.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1927_Chicago_mayoral_election>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1610:
Polish–Muscovite War: The outnumbered forces of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth defeated the Tsardom of Russia at the
Battle of Klushino.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Klushino>
1945:
The Brazilian cruiser Bahia was accidentally sunk by one of
its own crewmen, killing more than 300 and leaving the rest adrift in
shark-infested waters.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_cruiser_Bahia>
1954:
Four CIA officers arrived in Guatemala to begin Operation
PBHistory in an attempt to justify the United States' overthrow of
President Jacobo Árbenz one week prior.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_PBHistory>
1988:
Kylie Minogue's first album, Kylie, was released, going on to
top the charts in the UK, New Zealand, and Japan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kylie_%28album%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
all-American:
1. Comprising things that are wholly from the United States of America;
completely made in the United States.
2. Regarded as embodying the ideal qualities of the United States;
(specifically) of a person: courageous, heroic; honest, wholesome, etc.
3. (US, chiefly sports) Of a person or a team, or some other thing:
regarded as the best in the United States.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/all-American>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every
July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the
White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics
where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets "iffy", and the flies
die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is
patriotism.
--Erma Bombeck
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erma_Bombeck>
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian
Jewish novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the
major figures of 20th-century literature. His work, which fuses elements
of realism and the fantastic, typically features isolated protagonists
facing what are now called "Kafkaesque" circumstances: bizarre or
surrealistic predicaments complicated by incomprehensible bureaucracy.
He explores themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and
absurdity. His best-known works include The Metamorphosis, The Trial,
and The Castle. Few of Kafka's works were published during his lifetime,
and those that were received little public attention. In his will, he
instructed his friend Max Brod to destroy his unfinished works,
including three of his novels, but Brod ignored these instructions.
Kafka's work has influenced a vast range of writers, critics, artists,
and philosophers during the 20th and 21st centuries.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1778:
American Revolutionary War: Loyalists and Iroquois killed over
300 Patriots at the Battle of Wyoming in Pennsylvania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wyoming>
1940:
Second World War: The Royal Navy attacked the French fleet,
fearing that the ships would fall into German hands after the armistice
between those two nations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Mers-el-K%C3%A9bir>
1970:
The Troubles: The British Army imposed the Falls Curfew on
Belfast, Northern Ireland, which resulted in greater Irish republican
resistance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falls_Curfew>
1979:
U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed a presidential finding,
authorizing the CIA to secretly aid the mujahideen of Afghanistan
against the Soviet Union.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone>
2005:
Same-sex marriage became legal in Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_Spain>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ambivert:
(psychology) A person who is neither clearly extroverted nor
introverted, but has characteristics of each.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ambivert>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
One tells as few lies as possible only by telling as few lies as
possible, and not by having the least possible opportunity to do so.
--Franz Kafka
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka>
The 1991 Atlantic hurricane season was the first season since 1984 in
which no hurricanes developed from tropical waves, which are the source
for most North Atlantic tropical cyclones. The most significant storm of
the season was Hurricane Bob (satellite image shown), which at the time
was among the ten costliest United States hurricanes. After brushing the
Outer Banks of North Carolina and Long Island in New York, the hurricane
made landfall on Rhode Island. It caused $1.5 billion in damage, mostly
in Massachusetts, and 17 fatalities. The strongest hurricane of the
season was Claudette, with reported peak winds of 135 mph (215 km/h)
near Bermuda. Hurricane Grace, the final named storm of the season,
contributed to the development of a powerful nor'easter known as the
Perfect Storm that caused $200 million in damage and 13 deaths from
Puerto Rico to Canada. The nor'easter later transitioned into a
hurricane over the Gulf Stream, finally dissipating over Nova Scotia on
November 2.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Atlantic_hurricane_season>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1816:
The French frigate Méduse ran aground off the coast of
today's Mauritania, with the survivors escaping on a makeshift raft,
which was depicted in Théodore Géricault's painting The Raft of the
Medusa (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raft_of_the_Medusa>
1962:
The first Walmart store, now the largest company in the world
by revenue, opened in Rogers, Arkansas, U.S.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart>
1976:
More than a year after the end of the Vietnam War, North and
South Vietnam officially united under communist rule to form the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam>
2013:
The International Astronomical Union announced that the fourth
and fifth moons of Pluto would be named Kerberos and Styx respectively.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx_%28moon%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tinge:
1. (transitive) To add a small amount of colour; to tint; (by extension)
to add a small amount of some other thing.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To affect or alter slightly, particularly
due to the actual or metaphorical influence of some element or thing.
3. (intransitive) To change slightly in shade due to the addition of
colour; (by extension) to change slightly in quality due to the addition
of some other thing.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tinge>
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