Drava was a river monitor operated by the Royal Yugoslav Navy between
1921 and 1941. Originally built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy as SMS
Enns, the monitor fought against the Serbian and Romanian armies during
World War I. The ship was transferred to the newly created Kingdom of
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) and renamed Drava in 1920.
The vessel remained in service throughout the interwar period. During
the invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Drava spent six days shelling
airfields near Mohács in Hungary and fought off a small flotilla of
Hungarian gunboats. On 12 April, the monitor was attacked by Junkers
Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers. One bomb was dropped straight down Drava's
funnel and exploded in the engine room, killing 54 of the crew and
sinking the vessel; there were only 13 survivors. The base of the
Serbian River Flotilla at Novi Sad is named after Drava's last captain,
Aleksandar Berić. (This article is part of a featured topic: Ships of
the Royal Yugoslav Navy.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Ships_of_the_Royal_…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1858:
French composer Jacques Offenbach's operetta Orpheus in the
Underworld, featuring the music most associated with the can-can (audio
featured), was first performed at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in
Paris.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus_in_the_Underworld>
1941:
World War II: German soldiers massacred nearly 2,800 Serbs in
Kragujevac in reprisal for insurgent attacks in the district of Gornji
Milanovac.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kragujevac_massacre>
1968:
At the height of the Japanese university protests, protestors
occupied Shinjuku Station and clashed violently with police.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjuku_riot>
1994:
North Korea and the United States signed the Agreed Framework
to limit the former's nuclear weapons program and to normalize relations
between the two countries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agreed_Framework>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
smell you later:
(humorous, informal) See you later; goodbye.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smell_you_later>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Great artists make the roads; good teachers and good companions
can point them out. But there ain't no free rides, baby. No hitchhiking.
And if you want to strike out in any new direction — you go alone.
With a machete in your hand and the fear of God in your heart.
--Ursula K. Le Guin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin>
MLS Cup 1996 was the inaugural edition of the MLS Cup, the championship
match of Major League Soccer, the top-level soccer league of the United
States. Hosted at Foxboro Stadium (pictured) in Foxborough,
Massachusetts, on October 20, 1996, it was contested by D.C. United and
the Los Angeles Galaxy to decide the champion of the 1996 season. Los
Angeles had placed first and D.C. second in their respective conferences
during the regular season. The two teams had identical win–loss
records in the first two rounds of the playoffs. The final match, played
in heavy rain due to the proximity of Hurricane Lili, had an attendance
of 34,643 spectators. Los Angeles took a 2–0 lead early in the second
half on goals by Eduardo Hurtado and Chris Armas. D.C. United won 3–2
on a tiebreaking golden goal scored by Eddie Pope in overtime that
followed a second-half comeback for the team led by assists from Marco
Etcheverry, who was named the man of the match.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLS_Cup_1996>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1740:
Under the terms of the Pragmatic Sanction, Maria Theresa
ascended the Habsburg throne.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa>
1951:
African-American college football player Johnny Bright was the
victim of an on-field assault that eventually provoked changes in NCAA
football rules that mandated the use of more protective helmets with
face guards.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Bright_incident>
1991:
An earthquake struck the Indian state of Uttarakhand, killing
at least 768 people and destroying thousands of homes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Uttarkashi_earthquake>
2011:
First Libyan Civil War: Deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi was
captured by rebel forces during the Battle of Sirte and killed shortly
thereafter.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Muammar_Gaddafi>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
knacker's yard:
1. The area of a slaughterhouse where carcasses unfit for human
consumption or other purposes are rendered down to produce useful
materials such as glue.
2. (colloquial, figuratively) A (notional) place to send a person or
object that is spent beyond all reasonable use.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/knacker%27s_yard>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
On the Day of Resurrection God will ask everyone of his
understanding and not of his following in the footsteps of others. How
often a person, having inclined his ears to the holy verses, would bow
down in humility and would embrace the Truth, while his leader would not
do so. Thus every individual must bear his own responsibility, rather
than someone else bearing it for him.
--The Báb
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/B%C3%A1b>
John (1166–1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death. The
youngest of the four surviving sons of Henry II and Eleanor of
Aquitaine, he became Henry's favourite after a revolt by his brothers
Henry, Richard, and Geoffrey. Despite rebelling against King Richard,
who was away on the Third Crusade, he became king after Richard's death.
War with France broke out in 1202; John achieved early victories, but
shortages of resources led to the loss of the Duchy of Normandy and most
other French lands. His judicial reforms had a lasting effect on English
law and provided him with revenue from fines and court fees. An argument
with Pope Innocent III led to John's excommunication from 1209 to 1213.
John faced a rebellion by many of his barons, and although they agreed
to the Magna Carta peace accord in 1215, neither side complied with it,
and civil war broke out shortly afterwards. John died of dysentery while
on campaign in late 1216.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John,_King_of_England>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1752:
The Pennsylvania Gazette published a statement by Benjamin
Franklin describing a kite experiment (depicted) to determine the
electrical nature of lightning.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kite_experiment>
1943:
World War II: Allied aircraft sank the German cargo ship
Sinfra, killing more than 2,000 people, mostly Italian POWs.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Sinfra>
1955:
At a meeting of its general assembly, the European Broadcasting
Union approved the staging of the first Eurovision Song Contest.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest>
1987:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 22.6 percent on Black
Monday, the largest one-day percentage decline in the stock market
index's history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Monday_%281987%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
stink to high heaven:
1. To have a very strong and unpleasant smell.
2. (figuratively) Of a person or situation: to be highly ethically
dubious; also, of a person: to be very incompetent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stink_to_high_heaven>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Success ultimately rests on small things, lots of small things.
Leaders have to have a feel for small things — a feel for what is
going in in the depths of an organization where small things reside. The
more senior you become, the more you are isolated by pomp and staff, and
the harder and more necessary it becomes to know what is going on six
floors down. One way is to leave the top floor and its grand
accoutrements and get down into the bowels for real. Don't tell anyone
you are coming.
--Colin Powell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Colin_Powell>
Lazarus is a dystopian science fiction comic book series created by
writer Greg Rucka and artist Michael Lark (pictured). Image Comics
released the first monthly issue on June 23, 2013. A six-issue spin-
off limited series, Lazarus: X+66, was released monthly in 2017 between
issues 26 and 27 of the regular series. Rucka and Lark began developing
the series in 2012 and partnered with colorist Santi Arcas to finish the
art. Other creators were brought in later to assist with lettering and
inking. In the series, the world has been divided among sixteen rival
families, who run their territories in a feudal system. The main
character is Forever Carlyle, the military leader of the Carlyle family.
The major themes of Lazarus are the meaning of family and nature versus
nurture. Critics have given it mostly positive reviews and have praised
its worldbuilding. The series has also been collected into paperback and
hardcover editions.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_%28comics%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1748:
The War of the Austrian Succession ended with the signing of
the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Aix-la-Chapelle_%281748%29>
1929:
In the Persons Case, the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council decided that women were eligible to sit in the Senate of Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwards_v_Canada_%28AG%29>
2019:
Protests in Santiago that started 11 days prior escalated into
open battle against the Chilean national police, forcing President
Sebastián Piñera to declare a state of emergency.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%932021_Chilean_protests>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
brae:
1. (Northern England, Scotland) The sloping bank of a river valley.
2. (Northern England, Scotland) Any hillside or slope.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/brae>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I must say that "Give Peace a Chance" has always seemed to me to
be sensible advice.
--Pierre Trudeau
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pierre_Trudeau>
Oryzomys couesi, Coues's rice rat, is a semiaquatic rodent occurring
from southernmost Texas south to northwestern Colombia. It is usually
found in wet habitats, such as marshes, but also lives in drier forests
and shrublands. It is a medium-sized to large nocturnal rat with coarse
fur, usually brownish to reddish above and whitish below, although there
is much geographic variation in size, proportions, color, and skull
features. An excellent swimmer and diver, it builds nests of vegetation
suspended among reeds. Its diet includes seeds and insects. It probably
breeds year-round, and females give birth to about four young after a
pregnancy of 21 to 28 days. This species may be infected by parasites
and hantaviruses. It was first described in 1877, and related forms were
eventually merged into a single species. This rat is common, and even
locally considered a pest species, but some populations are threatened.
(This article is part of a featured topic: Oryzomys.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Oryzomys>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1660:
A series of executions of the commissioners who signed the
death warrant of Charles I of England concluded; six were hanged, drawn
and quartered for treason.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regicides_of_Charles_I>
1931:
American gangster Al Capone was convicted on five counts of
income-tax evasion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone>
1952:
Indonesian Army elements surrounded the Merdeka Palace,
demanding that President Sukarno disband the Provisional People's
Representative Council.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17_October_affair>
2001:
Rehavam Ze'evi, the Israeli minister of tourism, was
assassinated in revenge for the killing of PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustafa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Rehavam_Ze%27evi>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
thwart:
1. (transitive) To cause to fail; to frustrate, to prevent.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To place (something) across (another thing);
to position crosswise.
3. (transitive, also figuratively, obsolete) To hinder or obstruct by
placing (something) in the way of; to block, to impede, to oppose.
4. (transitive, intransitive, obsolete) To move (something) across or
counter to; to cross.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thwart>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I cannot write anything that I understand too well. If I know
what something means to me, if I have already come to the end of it as
an experience, I can't write it because it seems a twice-told tale. I
have to astonish myself, and that of course is a very costly way of
going about things, because you can go up a dead end and discover that
it's beyond your capacity to discover some organism underneath your
feeling, and you're left simply with a formless feeling which is not
itself art. It's inexpressible and one must leave it until it is
hardened and becomes something that has form and has some possibility of
being communicated. It might take a year or two or three or four to
emerge.
--Arthur Miller
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller>
Manganese is a ghost town and former mining community in the U.S. state
of Minnesota that was inhabited between 1912 and 1960. Built in Crow
Wing County on the Cuyuna Iron Range about 2 miles (3 km) north of
Trommald, Minnesota, it was named after the mineral found near the town.
The Trommald Formation beneath the town and the adjacent Emily District
constitutes the main ore-producing unit of the North Range district of
the Cuyuna Iron Range and the largest resource of manganese in the
United States. At its peak around 1919, Manganese had two hotels, a
bank, two grocery stores, a barbershop, a show hall, and a two-room
school, and housed a population of nearly 600. After World War I, the
population of Manganese went into steady decline as mining operations
shut down; the community was abandoned, and in 1961 the town was
formally dissolved. In 2017 some of the land was redeveloped for
primitive campsites.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manganese,_Minnesota>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1869:
Girton College, one of the 31 constituent colleges of the
University of Cambridge and England's first residential college for
women, was founded.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girton_College,_Cambridge>
1923:
Roy and Walt Disney founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio
in Hollywood; it eventually grew to become one of the largest media and
entertainment corporations in the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Company>
1964:
With the success of Project 596, China became the world's fifth
nuclear power.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_596>
1991:
A man drove his vehicle through the window of a Luby's
Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, and opened fire, killing 23 people before
he committed suicide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luby%27s_shooting>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
esculent:
1. Suitable for eating; eatable, edible.
2. (figuratively) “Good enough to eat”; attractive.
3. Something edible, especially a vegetable; a comestible.
4. (mycology, specifically) An edible mushroom.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/esculent>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We can begin to create new goals for ourselves, ends for our
days! A new discipline for life will spring into being, a new will and
power to live, a new ideal to measure the value of our lives by! … We
need a new leader who will teach us that ideal, who by his life will
exemplify it and make it a living truth for us — a man who will prove
that man's fleeting life in time and space can be noble. We need, above
all, to learn again to believe in the possibility of nobility of spirit
in ourselves!
--Eugene O'Neill
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eugene_O%27Neill>
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892–1988) was an English composer, music
critic, pianist and writer whose music, written over a period of seventy
years, ranges from sets of miniatures to works lasting several hours.
One of the most prolific 20th-century composers, he is best known for
his piano pieces, notably nocturnes such as Gulistān, and large-scale,
technically intricate works like Sequentia cyclica. He had a lifelong
tendency to seclusion and felt alienated from English society by reason
of his homosexuality and ancestry; his mother was English and his father
a Parsi businessman and industrialist from India. After playing his
music publicly between 1920 and 1936, Sorabji imposed restrictions on
its performance, which he lifted in 1976. He has been likened to the
composer-pianists he admired, including Franz Liszt and Charles-Valentin
Alkan, and his harmonic language and complex rhythms anticipated works
from the mid-20th century onwards.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaikhosru_Shapurji_Sorabji>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1888:
George Lusk, the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance
Committee in London, received a letter allegedly from Jack the Ripper.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Hell_letter>
1917:
Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari was executed by a firing squad
for spying for Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mata_Hari>
1954:
Hurricane Hazel made landfall in the Carolinas in the United
States before moving north to Toronto in Canada later the same day,
killing a total of 176 people in both countries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Hazel>
2011:
Global demonstrations against economic inequality, corporate
influence on government, and other issues, were held in more than 950
cities in 82 countries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_October_2011_global_protests>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
beg to differ:
1. (idiomatic) To offer an opposing opinion humbly.
2. (idiomatic) To differ (strongly) in interpretation or opinion.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beg_to_differ>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The best way to win was to not need to win. The best performances
are accomplished when you are relaxed and free of doubt.
--Abdul Kalam
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abdul_Kalam>
Doug Ring was a member of the Australian cricket team that toured
England in 1948. Ring played under captain Donald Bradman, whose 1948
team went undefeated in their 34 matches, earning them the sobriquet
"The Invincibles". A leg spinner, Ring was not prominent in the series,
playing in only the Fifth Test, taking one wicket for 44 runs and
scoring nine runs in his only innings. Ring took 60 first-class wickets
at a bowling average of 21.81, the most expensive among Australia's
frontline bowlers. As England agreed to have a new ball available at
intervals of 55 overs after the start of each innings, fast bowling
dominated over spin in the Tests, and Ring was used primarily in the
non-Test tour matches. Ring scored 150 first-class runs at a batting
average of 16.66 during the tour, and a top-score of 53 was his only
effort beyond 50. (This article is part of a featured topic: Australian
cricket team in England in 1948.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Australian_cricket_…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1888:
French inventor Louis Le Prince filmed Roundhay Garden Scene
(featured), the earliest surviving motion picture, in Leeds, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundhay_Garden_Scene>
1926:
The first book featuring English author A. A. Milne's
fictional bear Winnie-the-Pooh was first published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh_%28book%29>
1943:
The Holocaust: Prisoners at Sobibor extermination camp
revolted, killing 11 SS officers and staging a mass escape.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobibor_extermination_camp>
1964:
Members of the Politburo voted to remove Nikita Khrushchev as
First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and replace
him with Leonid Brezhnev.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Brezhnev>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Woozle effect:
The phenomenon whereby frequent citation of earlier publications leads
to a mistaken public belief in something for which there is no evidence,
giving rise to an urban myth.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Woozle_effect>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
What you have given me, is the most profound experience I could
imagine. I’m so filled with emotion, about what’s just happened —
it’s extraordinary. It’s extraordinary. I hope I never recover from
this. I hope that I can maintain what I feel now — I don’t want to
lose it. It’s so … so much larger than me and life and it hasn’t
got anything to do with the little green planet and the blue orb — it
has to do with the enormity — at the quickness and the suddenness of
life and death and then — oh my God!
--William Shatner
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Shatner>
The Battle of Bergerac was fought between Anglo-Gascon and French forces
at the town of Bergerac in Gascony, in August 1345 during the early
phase of the Hundred Years' War. In early 1345 Edward III of England
launched a major attack on the French from the north. He sent smaller
forces to Gascony, which was economically important to the English war
effort, and to Brittany. Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Derby, arrived in
Gascony in August; breaking with the previous policy of cautious
advance, he struck directly for the largest French concentration at
Bergerac. He took French forces under Bertrand I of L'Isle-Jourdain and
Henri de Montigny by surprise and defeated them. The French suffered
heavy casualties and the loss of the town, a significant strategic
setback. This defeat, along with the Battle of Auberoche later in the
year, changed the military balance of power in the region and led to the
collapse of the French position. (This article is part of a featured
topic: Gascon campaign of 1345.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Gascon_campaign_of_…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1843:
B'nai B'rith, the world's oldest continually operating Jewish
service organization, was founded in New York City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%27nai_B%27rith>
1921:
The Soviet republics of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and
Georgia signed the Treaty of Kars with the Grand National Assembly of
Turkey, establishing contemporary borders between Turkey and the
Caucasian states.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Kars>
1961:
Newly elected Burundian prime minister Louis Rwagasore was
assassinated by his political rivals.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Rwagasore>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hogshead:
1. (Britain) An English measure of capacity for liquids, containing 63
wine gallons, or about 52½ imperial gallons; a half pipe.
2. A large barrel or cask of indefinite contents, especially one
containing from 100 to 140 gallons.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hogshead>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The conservative is a person who considers very closely every
chance, even the longest, of "throwing out the baby with the bath-
water," as the German proverb puts it, and who determines his conduct
accordingly. And so we see that the term conservative has little value
as a label; in fact, one might say that its label-value varies inversely
with one's right to wear it.
--Albert Jay Nock
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Jay_Nock>
United States v. Washington was a case heard in the U.S. District Court
for the Western District of Washington and the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court
of Appeals. It reaffirmed the right of American Indian tribes in the
State of Washington to act with the state as co-managers of salmon and
other fish in line with treaties signed by the U.S. with the tribes. The
tribes of Washington had ceded their land, but reserved the right to
fish using traditional methods (example pictured), including at
traditional locations off the designated reservations. A 1974 decision
by federal judge George Boldt held that the tribes were entitled to half
the catch each year. In 1975 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld
this ruling, and in 1976 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the
case. When the state refused to enforce the court order, Boldt ordered
the Coast Guard to enforce his rulings. In a later case, Justice John
Paul Stevens summarized: "Both sides have a right, secured by treaty, to
take a fair share of the available fish." (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Washington>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1799:
Jeanne Geneviève Garnerin became the first woman to make a
parachute descent, falling 900 m (3,000 ft) in a hot-air balloon
gondola.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Genevi%C3%A8ve_Garnerin>
1871:
The Criminal Tribes Act entered into force in British India,
giving law enforcement sweeping powers to arrest, control, and monitor
the movements of the members of ethnic or social communities that were
defined as "habitually criminal".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Tribes_Act>
1984:
The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a bomb at the
Grand Hotel in Brighton, England, in a failed attempt to assassinate
British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and most of her cabinet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_hotel_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mantilla:
1. A lace veil of Spanish origin worn over a woman's hair and shoulders.
2. A woman's light cloak or cape made of silk, velvet, lace, or other
material.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mantilla>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If children are not introduced to music at an early age, I
believe something fundamental is actually being taken from them.
--Luciano Pavarotti
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Luciano_Pavarotti>