Isopogon anemonifolius is a shrub of the family Proteaceae which is
native to eastern New South Wales in Australia. It occurs naturally in
woodland, open forest, and heathland on sandstone soils. Described in
1796 by Richard Salisbury, I. anemonifolius usually ranges between 1
and 1.5 metres (3 1⁄4 and 5 feet) in height, generally being smaller
in exposed heathland. Its leaves are divided and narrow, though broader
than those of the related Isopogon anethifolius, and have a purplish
tinge during the cooler months. The yellow flowers appear during late
spring or early summer and are displayed prominently. They are followed
by round grey cones, which give the plant its common name drumsticks.
The small hairy seeds are found in the old flower parts. A long-lived
plant (up to 60 years), I. anemonifolius resprouts from its woody base
after bushfire. It grows readily in the garden if located in a sunny or
partly shaded spot with sandy soil and good drainage.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isopogon_anemonifolius>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1598:
King Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes, granting
freedom of religion to the Huguenots.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Nantes>
1927:
The Federal Industrial Institute for Women opened near
Alderson, West Virginia, as the first federal prison for women in the
United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Prison_Camp,_Alderson>
1945:
World War II: As Allied forces closed in on Berlin, Adolf
Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide in the Führerbunker one day
after their marriage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler>
2000:
Faustina Kowalska (portrait shown), a Polish nun whose
apparitions of Jesus inspired the Catholic devotion to the Divine Mercy,
was canonized by Pope John Paul II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faustina_Kowalska>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
desiccate:
1. (transitive) To remove moisture from; to dry.
2. (transitive) To preserve by drying.
3. (intransitive, rare) To become dry; to dry up.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/desiccate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Life does not forgive weakness.
--Adolf Hitler
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler>
The Hudson Sesquicentennial half dollar is a fifty-cent piece struck by
the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1935 as a commemorative coin.
The coin was designed by Chester Beach. Its obverse depicts the Half
Moon, flagship of Henry Hudson, after whom the city of Hudson is named.
In addition to showing the ship, the coin displays a version of the
Hudson city seal, with Neptune riding a whale, a design that has drawn
commentary. Although the city of Hudson was a relatively small
municipality, legislation to issue a coin in honor of its
150th anniversary went through Congress without opposition and was
signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, becoming the Act of May 2,
1935. Most of the coins were likely bought by coin dealers, leaving few
for collectors, with the result that prices spiked from the $1 cost at
the time of issue. This caused collector anger, but did not lower the
coin's value, which has continued to increase in the 80-plus years since
it was struck..
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1903:
A rockslide buried the Canadian mining town of Frank under more
than 110 million tonnes (120 million short tons) of rock, killing at
least 70 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Slide>
1945:
The Holocaust: The U.S. Army liberated Dachau, the first Nazi
concentration camp, and killed German prisoners of war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachau_liberation_reprisals>
1970:
Vietnam War: South Vietnamese forces began the Cambodian
campaign, aiming to attack North Vietnamese jungle bases.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_campaign>
2015:
The ringleaders of the Bali Nine were executed in Indonesia for
attempting to smuggle 8.3 kg (18 lb) of heroin to Australia in 2005.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bali_Nine>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
curate's egg:
(idiomatic) A thing which has good and bad parts, but is overall spoilt
by the bad.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/curate%27s_egg>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Whatever is right can be achieved through the irresistible power
of awakened and informed public opinion. Our object, therefore, is not
to enquire whether a thing can be done, but whether it ought to be done,
to so exert the forces of publicity that public opinion will compel it
be done.
--William Randolph Hearst
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Randolph_Hearst>
Alf Ramsey (22 January 1920 – 28 April 1999) was an English
football player and manager. As England manager from 1963 to 1974, he
guided them to victory in the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Knighted in 1967, he
also managed his country to third place in the 1968 European
Championship and the quarter-finals of the 1970 World Cup and the 1972
European Championship. As a player, he was a defender and a member of
England's 1950 World Cup squad, and a part of the Tottenham Hotspur side
that won the English League championship in the 1950–51 season. A
statue of Ramsey was dedicated at the reconstructed Wembley Stadium in
2009, and various honours have been afforded to him for his eight years
as Ipswich Town manager. He is the first person to be inducted twice
into the English Football Hall of Fame: in 2002 in recognition of his
achievements as a manager, and again in 2010 for his achievements as a
player. He remains widely regarded as one of British football's all-time
great managers.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alf_Ramsey>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
About 1,300 miles (2,100 km) west of Tahiti, Fletcher
Christian, acting lieutenant on board the Royal Navy ship Bounty, led a
mutiny against the commander, William Bligh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty>
1923:
The 1923 FA Cup Final between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham
United was held on the opening day (crowd and police pictured) of the
Empire Stadium in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1923_FA_Cup_Final>
2008:
The 1,388-foot-tall (423.2 m) Trump International Hotel and
Tower in Chicago, the building with the world's highest residence above
ground level at the time, held its grand opening.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_International_Hotel_and_Tower_%28Chicag…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bounty:
1. (uncountable) Generosity; also (countable) an act of generosity.
2. (countable) Something given liberally; a gift.
3. (countable) A reward for some specific act, especially one given by
an authority or a government.
4. (specifically) A monetary reward for capturing (or, in the past,
killing) a person accused or convicted of a crime and who is at large;
also, a similar reward for capturing or killing an animal which is
dangerous or causing a nuisance.
5. (military, historical) Money paid to a person when becoming a member
of the armed forces, or as a reward for some service therein.
6. (countable, figuratively) An abundance or wealth.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bounty>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The secret of the demagogue is to appear as dumb as his audience
so that these people can believe themselves as smart as he.
--Karl Kraus
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Kraus>
The black honeyeater (Sugomel niger) is a species of bird in the
honeyeater family, Meliphagidae. The bird exhibits sexual dimorphism:
the males are black and white, while the females and immature birds are
a speckled grey-brown. The species is endemic to Australia, and ranges
widely across the arid areas of the continent, through open woodland and
shrubland. A nectar feeder, the black honeyeater has a long curved bill
to reach the base of tubular flowers such as those of the emu bush. It
also takes insects in the air, and regularly eats ash left behind at
campfires. Cup-shaped nests are built in the forks of small trees or
shrubs. The male engages in a soaring song flight in the mating season,
but contributes little to nest building or incubating the clutch of two
to three eggs. Both sexes feed and care for the young. While the
population appears to be decreasing, the black honeyeater is numerous
and widespread.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_honeyeater>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1650:
Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Covenanter forces defeated an
invading Royalist army at the Battle of Carbisdale near the village of
Culrain, Scotland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Carbisdale>
1945:
The photograph Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn was
taken after German troops withdrew to Norway on the last day of the
Second World War in Finland, ending the Lapland War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_the_Three-Country_Cairn>
2005:
The Airbus A380, the largest passenger airliner in the world,
made its maiden flight from Toulouse, France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
recrudescence:
1. The condition or state being recrudescent; the condition of something
(often undesirable) breaking out again, or re-emerging after temporary
abatement or suppression.
2. (medicine, by extension) The acute recurrence of a disease, or its
symptoms, after a period of improvement.
3. (botany) The production of a fresh shoot from a ripened spike.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/recrudescence>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told
until they are believed to be true.
--Ulysses S. Grant
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ulysses_S._Grant>
Compulsory figures were formerly a segment of figure skating, from which
the sport derives its name. Requiring skaters to trace precise circles
while completing difficult turns and edges, these exercises made up
60 percent of the total score at most competitions around the world
until 1947. The simple figure-eight shape was executed by connecting two
circles; other figures included the three turn, the counter turn, the
rocker turn, the bracket turn, and the loop. Compulsory figures steadily
declined in importance, and in 1990 the International Skating Union
voted to discontinue them as a part of competitions. Although few
skaters continue to practice them, some skaters and coaches continue to
use them to develop alignment, core strength, body control, and
discipline. Since 2015, the World Figure Sport Society has conducted
festivals and competitions of compulsory figures, endorsed by the Ice
Skating Institute.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_figures>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1777:
American Revolutionary War: Sixteen-year-old Sybil Ludington
(statue pictured) rode forty miles (64 km) through the night to warn
militiamen under her father Henry's command that British troops were
planning to invade Danbury, Connecticut.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybil_Ludington>
1970:
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) came into
being when the WIPO Convention entered into force.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Intellectual_Property_Organization>
2007:
Controversy surrounding the relocation of the Bronze Soldier of
Tallinn, a Soviet Red Army World War II memorial in Tallinn, Estonia,
erupted into mass protests and riots.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Night>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
prozymite:
(Roman Catholicism, historical, derogatory) One who administers the
Eucharist with leavened bread, in particular a member of the Eastern
Orthodox Church.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prozymite>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our
intelligence by means of our language.
--Ludwig Wittgenstein
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein>
The Morgan Black Hours is an illuminated book of hours produced in
Bruges between 1460 and 1480. It is one of seven surviving black books
of hours, all originating from Bruges and dated to the mid- to late 15th
century. They are named for their unusual dark blueish colourisation,
achieved through the expensive process of dyeing the vellum with iron
gall ink. The Morgan Black Hours consists of 121 leaves, most containing
rows of Latin text written in Gothic minuscule script inscribed in
silver and in gold. The pages are typically dyed a deep blueish black,
with borders ornamented with flowers, foliage and grotesques. Although
considered a masterpiece of Late Gothic manuscript illumination, there
are no surviving records of its commission, but its dark tone, expense
of production, quality and rarity suggest ownership by privileged and
sophisticated members of the Burgundian court. It has been in the
collection of the Morgan Library & Museum in New York since 1912.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hours,_Morgan_MS_493>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1846:
Mexican–American War: Mexican forces defeated American troops
over the disputed border of Texas, later serving as the primary
justification for the U.S. Congress's declaration of war on Mexico.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_Affair>
1920:
At the San Remo conference, the principal Allies of World War I
passed a resolution allocating League of Nations mandates for the
administration of former Ottoman territories in the Middle East.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Remo_conference>
1960:
The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton completed the first
submerged circumnavigation of the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sandblast>
1990:
Violeta Chamorro took office as president of Nicaragua,
becoming the first female head of state in the Americas to have been
elected in her own right.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violeta_Chamorro>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
chur:
1. (New Zealand, informal) A strong voicing of agreement, approval, or
thanks: awesome!, cheers!, ta!, thanks!.
2. (New Zealand, informal) A parting salutation: bye, see you later.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chur>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The best that most of us can hope to achieve in physics is simply
to misunderstand at a deeper level.
--Wolfgang Pauli
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Pauli>
James Wood Bush (c. 1844 – 1906) was an American Union Navy sailor
of British and Native Hawaiian descent. He was among a group of more
than one hundred Native Hawaiian and Hawaii-born combatants in the Civil
War, at a time when the Kingdom of Hawaii was still an independent
nation. Enlisting in the Union Navy in 1864, Bush served as a sailor
aboard the USS Vandalia (depiction shown) and the captured Confederate
vessel USS Beauregard, which maintained the blockade of the ports of
the Confederacy. He was discharged from service in 1865 after an injury,
which developed into a chronic condition in later life. Returning to
Hawaii in 1877, he worked as a government tax collector and road
supervisor for the island of Kauai, where he settled down. After the
annexation of Hawaii to the United States, Bush was recognized for his
military service, and in 1905 was granted a government pension for the
injuries he received in the Navy.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wood_Bush>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1866:
German composer Max Bruch conducted the premiere of his first
violin concerto, which later became his most famous work.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto_No._1_%28Bruch%29>
1913:
The Woolworth Building in New York City officially opened; at
the time, it was the tallest building in the world, with a height of
792 ft (241 m).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolworth_Building>
1965:
Cold War: The Dominican Civil War broke out due to tensions
following a military coup of the democratically elected government of
President Juan Bosch two years earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Civil_War>
1990:
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched aboard STS-31 by Space
Shuttle Discovery.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
loath:
1. Averse, disinclined; reluctant, unwilling.
2. (obsolete) Angry, hostile.
3. (obsolete) Loathsome, unpleasant.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/loath>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
From all evil against which the law bars you, you should be
barred, at an infinite distance, by honour, by conscience, and nobility.
Does the law require patriotism, philanthropy, self-abnegation, public
service, purity of purpose, devotion to the needs of others who have
been placed in the world below you? The law is a great thing, —
because men are poor and weak, and bad. And it is great, because where
it exists in its strength, no tyrant can be above it. But between you
and me there should be no mention of law as the guide of conduct. Speak
to me of honour, of duty, and of nobility; and tell me what they require
of you.
--Anthony Trollope
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_Trollope>
The 1927 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Cardiff
City and Arsenal on 23 April 1927 at the Empire Stadium, the original
Wembley Stadium (pictured). With 91,206 in attendance, the final was the
showpiece match of English football's primary cup competition, the
Football Association Challenge Cup. A concert held before the game
included "Abide with Me"; singing this song before the match has since
become a cup final tradition. For the first time, the final was
broadcast on the radio by the BBC. Cardiff, one of the few Welsh teams
taking part in the cup competition, won the match 1–0; the goal was
credited to Hughie Ferguson after his shot slipped out of the hands of
Arsenal goalkeeper Dan Lewis. The victory remains the only occasion the
trophy, which was previously known as the "English Cup", has been won by
a team based outside England. Cardiff did not reach the FA Cup final
again until 2008.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1927_FA_Cup_Final>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1661:
Charles II was crowned King of England, Scotland and Ireland at
Westminster Abbey in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England>
1920:
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the country's unicameral
legislature, first met in Ankara in the midst of the Turkish War of
Independence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_National_Assembly_of_Turkey>
1954:
Batting for the Milwaukee Braves against Vic Raschi of the St.
Louis Cardinals, Hank Aaron hit the first of his 755 home runs in Major
League Baseball.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Aaron>
2010:
Arizona governor Jan Brewer signed into law the controversial
anti–illegal immigration bill SB 1070, much of which was later struck
down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_SB_1070>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Gramarye:
(literary, Arthurian, rare) The island of Britain.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gramarye>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A great while ago the world begun, With hey, ho, the wind and
the rain: But that's all one, our play is done, And we'll strive to
please you every day.
--Twelfth Night
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Twelfth_Night>
Henry Conwell (c. 1748 – 1842) was an Irish-born Catholic bishop in
the United States. After serving as a priest in Ireland for more than
four decades, he was installed as the second bishop of Philadelphia in
1819. He took up the post at an advanced age, and spent much of his time
there feuding with the lay trustees of his parishes, especially those of
St. Mary's Church in Philadelphia. When he removed and excommunicated
William Hogan, a controversial priest at St. Mary's, the parish trustees
instead rejected Conwell's authority, creating a minor schism. The two
sides partially reconciled by 1826, but the Vatican hierarchy believed
Conwell had ceded too much power to the laymen and recalled him to Rome.
Although he retained his position, he was compelled to relinquish actual
control to his coadjutor bishop, Francis Kenrick. He remained in
Philadelphia and performed some priestly duties, but for all practical
purposes no longer ran the diocese.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Conwell>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1864:
The U.S. Congress authorized the creation of a two-cent coin,
the first U.S. currency to bear the phrase "In God We Trust".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_God_We_Trust>
1915:
German forces released 168 tons of chlorine gas at the
beginning of the Second Battle of Ypres, causing thousands of casualties
among French troops.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Ypres>
1969:
British yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston completed the first
single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the world, winning the Sunday
Times Golden Globe Race.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Times_Golden_Globe_Race>
2000:
In a pre-dawn raid, U.S. federal agents seized six-year-old
Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami and returned him to
his Cuban father.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli%C3%A1n_Gonz%C3%A1lez>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
agrology:
1. (rare) A subdiscipline of agronomy (the science of utilizing animals,
plants, and soils) and of soil science which addresses the influence of
edaphic (soil-related) conditions on crop production for optimizing it.
2. (chiefly Canada) The science and art of agriculture.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/agrology>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is impossible to care for each other more or differently than
we care for the earth. This … becomes obvious enough when it is
considered that the earth is what we all have in common, that it is what
we are made of and what we live from, and that we therefore cannot
damage it without damaging those with whom we share it. But I believe it
goes farther and deeper than that. There is an uncanny resemblance
between our behavior toward each other and our behavior toward the
earth. … By some connection we do not recognize, the willingness to
exploit one becomes the willingness to exploit the other.
--Wendell Berry
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wendell_Berry>
Djaoeh Dimata (Out of Sight) is a 1948 film from what is now Indonesia,
written and directed by Andjar Asmara for the South Pacific Film
Corporation (SPFC). Starring Ratna Asmara (pictured) and Ali Joego, it
follows a woman who goes to Jakarta to find work after her husband is
blinded in an accident. She becomes a singer and achieves wide acclaim,
but eventually returns home. SPFC's first production, Djaoeh Dimata took
two to three months to film and cost almost 130,000 gulden. The first
domestically produced feature film to be released in five years, Djaoeh
Dimata received favourable reviews, although financially it was
outperformed by Roestam Sutan Palindih's Air Mata Mengalir di Tjitarum
(released soon after). The film's cast remained active in the Indonesian
film industry, some for another thirty years, and SPFC produced six more
works before closing in 1949. A copy of the film is stored at Sinematek
Indonesia.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djaoeh_Dimata>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1958:
United Airlines Flight 736 collided with a U.S. Air Force
fighter jet over southern Nevada, resulting in the deaths of all 49
people on board both aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_736>
1970:
In response to a dispute over wheat production quotas, Leonard
Casley declared his 75 km2 (29 sq mi) farm in Western Australia to be
an independent country as the Hutt River Province.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Hutt_River>
2010:
Ukraine and Russia signed the Kharkiv Pact, extending the
Russian lease on naval facilities in Crimea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharkiv_Pact>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hector:
1. (transitive) To dominate or intimidate in a blustering way; to bully,
to domineer.
2. (intransitive) To behave like a hector or bully; to bluster, to
swagger; to bully.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hector>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Beneath our feet and o'er our head Is equal warning given:
Beneath us lie the countless dead, Above us is the heaven! Death rides
on every passing breeze, And lurks in every flower; Each season has
its own disease, Its peril every hour.
--Reginald Heber
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Reginald_Heber>