The Lexington-Concord Sesquicentennial half dollar is a fifty-cent piece
struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1925 as a
commemorative coin in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Battles of
Lexington and Concord. It was designed by Chester Beach. Members of the
Massachusetts congressional delegation introduced legislation in 1924 to
authorize a commemorative half dollar for the anniversary. The bill
passed both houses of Congress and was signed by President Calvin
Coolidge. Beach had to satisfy committees from both Lexington and
Concord, and the Commission of Fine Arts passed the design only
reluctantly, feeling he had been given poor materials to work with. The
coins were sold for $1, and were vended at the anniversary celebrations
in Lexington and in Concord; they were sold at banks across New England.
Although just over half of the authorized mintage of 300,000 was struck,
almost all the coins that were minted were sold. Depending on condition,
they are catalogued in the hundreds of dollars.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexington-Concord_Sesquicentennial_half_dollar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1693:
The most powerful earthquake in Italian history, registering
7.4 Mw, struck the island of Sicily.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1693_Sicily_earthquake>
1943:
Italian-American journalist and trade-union activist Carlo
Tresca, a leading public opponent of the Mafia infiltration of unions,
was assassinated in New York City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Tresca>
1986:
The Gateway Bridge was opened in Brisbane, Australia, as the
largest prestressed concrete, single-box bridge in the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Leo_Hielscher_Bridges>
2013:
French special forces failed in an attempted rescue of a DGSE
agent, who had been taken hostage in 2009 by Al-Shabaab, in Buulo
Mareer, Somalia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulo_Marer_hostage_rescue_attempt>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
blotto:
(informal) (Very) drunk or intoxicated.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blotto>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
An avaricious man might be tempted to betray the interests of the
State to the acquisition of wealth. An ambitious man might make his own
aggrandizement, by the aid of a foreign power, the price of his
treachery to his constituents. The history of human conduct does not
warrant that exalted opinion of human virtue, which would make it wise
in a Nation to commit interests of so delicate and momentous a kind, as
those which concern its intercourse with the rest of the world, to the
sole disposal of a Magistrate created and circumstanced as would be a
President of the United States.
--Alexander Hamilton
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton>
The Rodrigues parrot (Necropsittacus rodricanus) is an extinct species
of parrot that was endemic to Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean. Its
relationships are unclear but it is classified with other Mascarene
parrots in the tribe Psittaculini and may have been related to the
broad-billed parrot of Mauritius. The Rodrigues parrot was green, and
had a proportionally large head and beak along with a long tail. It was
the largest parrot on Rodrigues, and had the largest head of any
Mascarene parrot; it may have looked similar to the great-billed parrot.
By the time it was discovered, it frequented and nested on islets off
southern Rodrigues, where introduced rats were absent, and fed on the
seeds of the Fernelia buxifolia shrub. The species is known from
subfossil bones and from mentions in contemporary accounts. It was last
mentioned in 1761, and probably became extinct soon after, perhaps due
to a combination of predation by rats, deforestation, and hunting by
humans..
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1430:
Philip the Good established the Order of the Golden Fleece,
referred to as the most prestigious, exclusive, and expensive order of
chivalry in the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Golden_Fleece>
1812:
New Orleans, the first steamship on the Mississippi River,
arrived in its namesake city to complete its maiden voyage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans_%28steamboat%29>
1929:
The Adventures of Tintin, a series of popular comic albums
created by Belgian artist Hergé, first appeared in Le Petit Vingtième,
the youth supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tintin>
1985:
Sir Clive Sinclair launched the Sinclair C5 personal electric
vehicle, "one of the great marketing bombs of postwar British industry",
which later became a cult collectable despite its commercial failure.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
blooper:
1. (informal) A blunder, an error.
2. (baseball, slang) A fly ball that is weakly hit just over the
infielders.
3. (film, informal) A filmed or videotaped outtake that has recorded an
amusing accident and/or mistake.
4. (nautical) A gaff-rigged fore-and-aft sail set from and aft of the
aftmost mast of a square-rigged ship; a spanker.
5. (US, dated) A radio which interferes with other radios, causing them
to bloop (squeal loudly).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blooper>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Machiavelli's teaching would hardly have stood the test of
parliamentary government, for public discussion demands at least the
profession of good faith. But it gave an immense impulse to absolutism
by silencing the consciences of very religious kings, and made the good
and the bad very much alike. … The way was paved for absolute
monarchy to triumph over the spirit and institutions of a better age,
not by isolated acts of wickedness, but by a studied philosophy of
crime, and so thorough a perversion of the moral sense that the like of
it had not been since the Stoics reformed the morality of paganism.
--John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Dalberg-Acton,_1st_Baron_Acton>
Ham Wall is an English wetland and National Nature Reserve located 4
kilometres (2.5 mi) west of Glastonbury on the Somerset Levels. It is
managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which helps
coordinate conservation issues across the Somerset Levels as part of the
Avalon Marshes Partnership. The reserve was constructed originally to
provide reed bed habitat for the bittern, which in 1997 was at a low
population level in the UK. The site is divided into sections with
independently controllable water levels, and machinery and cattle are
used to maintain the quality of the reed beds. The reserve hosts
important breeding populations of the rare little bittern and great
white egret, and has other uncommon animals and plants. Potential future
threats may include heavy summer rains and extensive flooding. Sea level
rise may make drainage more difficult, and current water pumping
facilities may become inadequate.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_Wall>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1909:
Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition, planted the
British flag 97.5 nautical miles (180.6 km; 112.2 mi) from the South
Pole, the farthest south explorers had reached at the time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farthest_South>
1972:
Seawise University, formerly RMS Queen Elizabeth, an ocean
liner that sailed the Atlantic for Cunard Line, caught fire in Victoria
Harbour, Hong Kong.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Queen_Elizabeth>
1991:
Representatives from the United States and Iraq met at the
Geneva Peace Conference to find a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Peace_Conference_%281991%29>
2015:
Contaminated beer served at a funeral in Tete Province,
Mozambique, killed 75 people and made at least 230 others ill.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozambique_funeral_beer_poisoning>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cryptodepression:
(geography, limnology) The portion of a lake which lies below sea level.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cryptodepression>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Together with the rest of the world, let us resolve to move
forward from the beginnings we have made. Let us continue to bring down
the walls of hostility which have divided the world for too long, and to
build in their place bridges of understanding — so that despite
profound differences between systems of government, the people of the
world can be friends. Let us build a structure of peace in the world in
which the weak are as safe as the strong — in which each respects the
right of the other to live by a different system — in which those who
would influence others will do so by the strength of their ideas, and
not by the force of their arms. Let us accept that high responsibility
not as a burden, but gladly — gladly because the chance to build such
a peace is the noblest endeavor in which a nation can engage; gladly,
also, because only if we act greatly in meeting our responsibilities
abroad will we remain a great Nation, and only if we remain a great
Nation will we act greatly in meeting our challenges at home.
--Richard Nixon
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon>
The Paleocene is a geological epoch that started 66 million years ago
with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction of non-avian dinosaurs and
75 percent of all species. The Paleocene was marked by the recovery of
the biosphere, with dense forests worldwide, while small mammals and
birds rapidly evolved to take advantage of the mass extinction. In the
seas, ray-finned fish rose to dominance. The supercontinents Laurasia
and Gondwana were still separating, the Rocky Mountains were being
uplifted, the Americas were divided, the Indian Plate was colliding with
Asia, and the North Atlantic Igneous Province was forming. Like the
preceding Mesozoic, the Paleocene had a greenhouse climate, with an
average global temperature of 24–25 °C (75–77 °F), compared to
14 °C (57 °F) today. It ended 56 million years ago with a sharp
rise in temperature in the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleocene>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1790:
George Washington delivered the first State of the Union
address in New York City, then the provisional capital of the United
States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_the_Union>
1889:
American statistician Herman Hollerith received a patent for
his electromechanical tabulating machine for punched-card data.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Hollerith>
1972:
Following the country's defeat by India in the previous year's
war, new Pakistani president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto released Bangladeshi
politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from prison in response to
international pressure.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Mujibur_Rahman>
2010:
Gunmen from an offshoot of the Front for the Liberation of the
Enclave of Cabinda attacked the bus transporting the Togo national
football team to the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, killing three
people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togo_national_football_team_attack>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mind-boggling:
That causes the mind to boggle; that is beyond one's ability to
understand or figure out.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mind-boggling>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Don't live by generalities, unless it be to act virtuously, and
don't ask desire to follow precise laws, for you will have to drink
tomorrow from the water you scorn today.
--Baltasar Gracián
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Baltasar_Graci%C3%A1n>
Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th
president of the United States, the last president from the Whig Party.
Born into poverty in the Finger Lakes area of New York state, he became
a prominent attorney in the Buffalo area and was elected to the New York
State Assembly in 1828, and to the U.S. House of Representatives in
1832. As Ways and Means Committee chairman, he helped pass the Tariff of
1842. In 1848, he was elected vice president and succeeded to the
presidency in July 1850 upon the death of President Zachary Taylor.
Fillmore considered slavery an evil, but beyond the powers of the
federal government. He pushed to pass the Compromise of 1850, leading to
a brief truce in the battle over slavery. He also enforced the Fugitive
Slave Act, a controversial part of the Compromise. The Whigs nominated
Winfield Scott in 1852 instead of him. In 1856, he was nominated for
president by the Know Nothing Party, but he finished third, winning only
Maryland.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millard_Fillmore>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1782:
The Bank of North America opened in Philadelphia as the United
States's first de facto central bank.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_North_America>
1940:
Winter War: Outnumbered Finnish troops decisively defeated
Soviet forces at the Battle of Raate Road.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Raate_Road>
2010:
In Nag Hammadi, Egypt, Muslim gunmen opened fire on a crowd of
Coptic Christians leaving church after attending Christmas mass, killing
eight of them, as well as one Muslim bystander.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nag_Hammadi_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
to say nothing of:
(idiomatic) An apophasis used to mention another important, usually
related, point: not taking into account, not to mention, without
considering.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/to_say_nothing_of>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I accept this idea of democracy. I am all for trying it out. It
must be a good thing if everybody praises it like that. If our
government has been willing to go to war and sacrifice billions of
dollars and millions of men for the idea I think that I ought to give
the thing a trial. The only thing that keeps me from pitching head long
into this thing is the presence of numerous Jim Crow laws on the statute
books of the nation. I am crazy about the idea of Democracy. I want to
see how it feels.
--Zora Neale Hurston
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zora_Neale_Hurston>
Gottlob Berger (1896–1975) was a senior German Nazi official and the
chief of the Main Office of the Schutzstaffel (SS) during World War II.
He was transferred to the SS in 1936 by its commander, Heinrich Himmler.
Berger was responsible for the growth of the armed wing of the SS, the
Waffen-SS, evading controls over conscription and overseeing recruitment
within and outside Germany, including among those who in no way
reflected Himmler's ideas of "racial purity". Often clashing with senior
military officers and even with his superiors over his recruiting
methods, Berger grew the Waffen-SS to 38 divisions by the war's end. He
placed his friend Oskar Dirlewanger in command of a unit of convicted
criminals that later committed many war crimes. Indicted for war crimes
himself on 6 January 1949, Berger was convicted on 13 April, including
for his involvement in slave labour schemes and as a conscious
participant in the concentration camp program.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottlob_Berger>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1536:
The oldest European school of higher learning in the Americas,
the Colegio de Santa Cruz, was founded in Tlatelolco, Mexico City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colegio_de_Santa_Cruz_de_Tlatelolco>
1912:
German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presented his theory
of continental drift, the precursor of plate tectonics.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drift>
1960:
National Airlines Flight 2511, traveling from New York City to
Miami, exploded in mid-air due to a bomb placed by an unknown party,
resulting in the deaths of all 34 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Airlines_Flight_2511>
1994:
Two-time American Olympic figure-skating medalist Nancy
Kerrigan was hit on the leg with a police baton by an assailant hired by
the ex-husband of her rival Tonya Harding.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonya_Harding>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Slavi:
The Russian Orthodox Christmas, which is celebrated from January 6
through 13 in outstate Alaska, USA, wherever there is a sizable Russian
Orthodox population.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Slavi>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Anarchism can teach Christian thinkers to see the realities of
our societies from a different standpoint than the dominant one of the
state. What seems to be one of the disasters of our time is that we all
appear to agree that the nation-state is the norm.
--Jacques Ellul
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jacques_Ellul>
Venture Science Fiction was an American science fiction magazine
published from 1957 to 1958, and revived for a brief run in 1969 and
1970. There were ten issues of the 1950s version, and six in the second
run. Robert P. Mills edited the 1950s version, and Edward L. Ferman was
editor for the second run. A British edition ran for 28 issues between
1963 and 1965 reprinting material from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science
Fiction as well as from the US edition of Venture. An Australian edition
was identical to the British version but dated two months later. The
1950's version was only moderately successful, failing due to poor sales
within two years. The publisher, Joseph W. Ferman, said that he wanted
well-told stories of action and adventure; the resulting fiction
contained more sex and violence than was usual for the genre in the late
1950s, and science fiction historian Mike Ashley has noted that the
magazine was ahead of its time. The second US version was also
unsuccessful, with poorer cover art and little in the way of notable
fiction. By the end of 1970, Venture had ceased publication permanently.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_Science_Fiction>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1885:
Sino-French War: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier
defeated a larger Qing Chinese force at the Battle of Núi Bop in
northern Vietnam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_N%C3%BAi_Bop>
1936:
Billboard magazine published its first music hit parade.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_%28magazine%29>
1972:
Rose Heilbron became the first female judge to sit at the
Central Criminal Court of England and Wales.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Heilbron>
2004:
Spirit, the first of two rovers of NASA's Mars Exploration
Rover mission, successfully landed on Mars.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_%28rover%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
shorthand:
1. A rough and rapid method of writing by substituting symbols for
letters, words, etc.
2. (by extension) Any brief or shortened way of saying or doing
something.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shorthand>
___________________________
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>
Cyclone Ada was a small but intense tropical cyclone that severely
impacted the Whitsunday Region of Queensland, Australia, in January
1970. It formed over the far eastern Coral Sea early in the month,
remaining weak and disorganised for nearly two weeks before being named.
The extremely compact cyclone, with a reported gale radius of 55 km
(35 mi), intensified into a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone just
before striking the Whitsunday Islands on 17 January. Resorts on
Daydream, South Molle, Hayman and Long islands were obliterated. Based
on the severity of the damage, wind gusts were later estimated at
220 km/h (140 mph). Near the point of Ada's landfall, almost all the
homes in Cannonvale, Airlie Beach and Shute Harbour were destroyed.
Rainfall totals as high as 1.25 m (49 in) caused massive river
flooding in coastal waterways between Bowen and Mackay. Ada killed 14
people, including 11 at sea, and caused A$12 million in damage.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Ada>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1833:
With the arrival of two British naval ships at the Falkland
Islands, the United Kingdom re-asserted sovereignty there.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reassertion_of_British_sovereignty_over_the_F…>
1911:
A 7.7 Mw earthquake destroyed the city of Almaty in Russian
Turkestan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1911_Kebin_earthquake>
1976:
The multilateral International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, part of the International Bill of Human Rights, came
into effect.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Covenant_on_Economic,_Social_an…>
1990:
United States invasion of Panama: General Manuel Noriega, the
deposed strongman of Panama, surrendered to American forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
castle in the air:
(idiomatic) A desire, idea, or plan that is unlikely to ever be
realized; a visionary project or scheme; a daydream, an idle fancy, a
near impossibility.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/castle_in_the_air>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
How long will men dare to call anything expedient that is not
right? Can odium and infamy be of service to any empire, which ought to
be supported by glory and by the good-will of its allies?
--Cicero
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cicero>
Albatros was the fourth of six Type 23 torpedo boats (schematic shown)
built for the German Navy. Launched in July 1926 and commissioned in May
1927, she often served as a flagship of various torpedo boat units. The
ship made multiple non-intervention patrols during the Spanish Civil War
in the late 1930s. After an attack by aircraft of the Spanish Republican
Air Force that killed German sailors in 1937, Albatros participated in
the retaliatory bombardment of Almería. At the beginning of World
War II in 1939, she helped to lay minefields and made anti-shipping
patrols before participating in Operation Weserübung, the German
invasion of Norway in April 1940. Albatros fired the first shots of the
campaign when she encountered and crippled a Norwegian patrol boat. She
was lightly damaged during the Battle of Horten Harbor. Albatros then
ran aground and was wrecked while maneuvering in an attempt to avoid
Norwegian coastal artillery.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_torpedo_boat_Albatros>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
Uruguayan War: Brazilian and Colorado Party forces captured the
city of Paysandú from its Uruguayan defenders.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Paysand%C3%BA>
1920:
Under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer,
U.S. Department of Justice agents launched a series of raids against
radical leftists and anarchists in more than 30 cities and towns across
23 states.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Raids>
1959:
The Soviet spacecraft Luna 1 (replica pictured), the first
spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon, was launched by a Vostok
rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_1>
1976:
An extratropical cyclone began affecting parts of western
Europe, resulting in coastal flooding around the southern portions of
the North Sea and leading to at least 82 deaths over the next few days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gale_of_January_1976>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tumultuous:
1. Characterized by loud, confused noise.
2. Causing or characterized by tumult; chaotic, disorderly, turbulent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tumultuous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All you have to do is take a close look at yourself and you will
understand everyone else. We’re in no way different ourselves... You
show me someone who can’t understand people and I’ll show you
someone who has built up a false image of himself.
--Isaac Asimov
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov>
The Battle of Calais took place in the early morning of 1 January 1350,
during the Hundred Years' War. English troops in the occupied French
city of Calais ambushed and defeated an unsuspecting French force which
was attempting to take the city. Despite a truce being in effect, the
French commander Geoffrey de Charny had planned to take the city by
subterfuge, and bribed Amerigo of Pavia, an Italian officer of the city
garrison, to open a gate for them. The English king, Edward III, became
aware of the plot and personally led his household knights and the
Calais garrison in a surprise counter-attack. The French were routed by
this smaller force, with significant losses and all of their leaders
captured or killed. Later that day, Edward dined with the highest-
ranking captives, treating them with royal courtesy except for Charny,
whom he taunted for having abandoned his chivalric principles by both
fighting during a truce and attempting to purchase his way into Calais
rather than fight.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Calais>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1808:
As a result of the lobbying efforts by the abolitionist
movement (emblem pictured), the importation of slaves into the United
States was officially banned, although slavery itself was not yet
abolished.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_Prohibiting_Importation_of_Slaves>
1928:
Joseph Stalin's personal secretary, Boris Bazhanov, crossed the
Iranian border and defected from the Soviet Union.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Bazhanov>
1965:
The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, which later
helped the country become a republic, was founded.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Democratic_Party_of_Afghanistan>
2009:
A nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand, killed 66 patrons
celebrating the New Year.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santika_Club_fire>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
calends:
1. Often with initial capital: the first day of a month, particularly
(Ancient Rome, historical) the first day of a month of the Roman
calendar.
2. (by extension) A day for settling debts and other accounts.
3. (by extension, biblical, Judaism, obsolete) Synonym of Rosh Hodesh
(“the Jewish festival of the new moon, which begins the months of the
Hebrew calendar”)
4. (rare) Synonym of calendar; (figuratively) an account, a record.
5. (figuratively, obsolete) The first day of something; a beginning.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/calends>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be
suspect and must be opposed. … Equality, rightly understood, as our
founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation
of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so
tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to
despotism.
--Barry Goldwater
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barry_Goldwater>