The Harry F. Sinclair House stands at the corner of East 79th Street and
Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. It was built between 1897 and
1899, designed in a French Renaissance style by C. P. H. Gilbert and
built by foreman Harvey Murdock. It was successively owned by
businessmen Isaac D. Fletcher and Harry F. Sinclair, and then
descendants of Peter Stuyvesant. The Ukrainian Institute of America
acquired the mansion in 1955. It fell into disrepair and was renovated
in the 1990s. The house was added to the National Register of Historic
Places and named a National Historic Landmark in 1978. The building
largely retains its original design, being constructed mainly of brick
faced with limestone ashlar. The northern façade on 79th Street
includes the main entrance and has multiple windows in square recesses
or Gothic arches. The western façade is symmetrical and dominated by a
curved pavilion. The interior has six floors, with a total floorspace of
20,000 square feet (1,900 m2).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_F._Sinclair_House>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1739:
War of Jenkins' Ear: A British naval force arrived at the
settlement of Portobello in the Spanish Main (now in Panama), which it
captured the next day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Porto_Bello_%281739%29>
1902:
While discussing how to promote the newspaper L'Auto, sports
journalist Géo Lefèvre came up with the idea of holding a cycling race
that later became known as the Tour de France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France>
1979:
A group of armed insurgents attacked and took over the Masjid
al-Haram in Mecca, declaring that one of their leaders was the Mahdi,
the prophesied redeemer of Islam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Mosque_seizure>
1991:
First Nagorno-Karabakh War: An Azerbaijani military helicopter
carrying a peacekeeping mission team was shot down in Nagorno-Karabakh,
Azerbaijan, disrupting the ongoing peace talks.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Azerbaijani_Mil_Mi-8_shootdown>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Nuremberg defense:
1. (ethics, international law, idiomatic) An explanation offered as an
excuse for behaving in a criminal or wrongful manner, claiming that
acted in this way because one was ordered by others (particularly
superiors) to do so.
2. (US law, by extension) An explanation offered as a defense to
criminal or wrongful behavior, claiming that one is justified in not
obeying a governmental order or a domestic law because the order or law
is itself unlawful.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nuremberg_defense>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I believe the American people — the vast majority — are with
us. I think they see much more clearly what you’ve all been fighting
for your whole lives now. It’s in stark relief. The bad news: We had
a President who appealed to the prejudice. The good news is that he took
the — he ripped the Band-Aid off, made it absolutely clear what’s at
stake. And I think the American people will follow us. But guess what?
Whether they will or not, we have no choice. We have to continue to
fight. God bless you all. May God protect our troops.
--Joe Biden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden>
The Wii is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo.
The fifth major home console released by the company, it is the
successor to the GameCube and was released on November 19, 2006.
Although a competitor in the seventh generation of video game consoles,
the Wii aimed to appeal to a larger and broader target demographic,
directing towards the "casual" market rather than the "core" audience.
Features of the console include a controller that can be pointed at the
screen to function as a pointing device, a Wi-Fi connection via
WiiConnect24, and easy-to-navigate software. The console was formally
revealed at E3 in 2005 by Satoru Iwata under the code name "Revolution".
Other variants, such as the Wii Mini, were also released. The console
won numerous awards and was praised for its broad-audience simplicity
with some criticism for hardware limitations. By 2013, the Wii had sold
over 100 million consoles internationally and was followed by the Wii U
in 2012.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1941:
World War II: The Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney and
the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran destroyed each other in the Indian
Ocean.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_between_HMAS_Sydney_and_German_auxilia…>
1969:
Playing for Santos against Vasco da Gama in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazilian footballer Pelé scored his thousandth goal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pel%C3%A9>
1991:
Mexican singer Luis Miguel released his album Romance, which
led to the revival of interest in bolero music.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_%28Luis_Miguel_album%29>
2004:
During a NBA game between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit
Pistons, a brawl between players spilled into the crowd when Ron Artest
attacked a fan who had thrown a drink at him.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Malice_at_the_Palace>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ordure:
1. Dung, excrement.
2. (by extension) Dirt, filth.
3. (by extension) Something regarded as contaminating or perverting the
morals; obscene material.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ordure>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I would rather be beaten in Right than succeed in Wrong.
--James Garfield
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Garfield>
Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln never met, but the American poet
greatly admired Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, and
was deeply affected by his assassination, writing several poems as
elegies and giving a series of lectures on Lincoln. Shortly after the
assassination, Whitman hastily wrote the first of his Lincoln poems,
"Hush'd Be the Camps To-Day". Two more appeared in his collection Sequel
to Drum-Taps later in 1865: "O Captain! My Captain!" and "When Lilacs
Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd". The poems—particularly "My
Captain!"—were popular upon publication and, in the following years,
Whitman styled himself as an interpreter of Lincoln. In 1871, his fourth
poem on Lincoln, "This Dust Was Once the Man", was published. "My
Captain!" is still one of Whitman's most popular works, despite slipping
in popularity and critical assessment since the early 1900s. "Lilacs" is
often listed as one of Whitman's finest works. (This article is part of
a featured topic: Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Walt_Whitman_and_Ab…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was
published, becoming the first great success of American author Mark
Twain (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Celebrated_Jumping_Frog_of_Calaveras_Coun…>
1956:
At the Polish embassy in Moscow, Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev said "We will bury you" while addressing Western envoys,
prompting them to leave the room.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_will_bury_you>
1991:
Croatian War of Independence: The Yugoslav People's Army
captured the Croatian city of Vukovar, ending an 87-day siege.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vukovar>
2014:
Two Palestinian men attacked the praying congregants of a
synagogue in Jerusalem with axes, knives, and a gun, resulting in eight
deaths, including the attackers themselves.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Jerusalem_synagogue_attack>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Minecrafter:
(video games) A person who plays the game Minecraft.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Minecrafter>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
After I wrote Handmaid’s Tale, people came up to me and asked
why weren’t there any protests. And I said, “You don’t understand
totalitarianism.” A real totalitarianism doesn’t fool around with
protests in the streets.
--Margaret Atwood
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood>
HMS Hood was a battlecruiser of the British Royal Navy, commissioned in
1920. Hood was the largest warship in the world for 20 years and was
nicknamed "the Mighty Hood". She was involved in several showing-the-
flag exercises prior to the outbreak of World War II in 1939. She was
scheduled to undergo a major rebuild in 1941 but the war prevented this.
In July 1940 she participated in the destruction of the French fleet at
Mers-el-Kébir. On 24 May 1941 Hood and the battleship Prince of Wales
intercepted the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz
Eugen in the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Hood was struck by several
German shells, exploded, and sank with the loss of all but three of her
crew of 1,418. The Royal Navy conducted two inquiries; both concluded
that Hood's aft magazine exploded after a shell penetrated her armour.
Hood's wreck was discovered in 2001. (This article is part of a
featured topic: Battlecruisers of the world.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Battlecruisers_of_t…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1950:
The 14th Dalai Lama assumed full temporal power as ruler of
Tibet at the age of fifteen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Dalai_Lama>
1968:
NBC controversially cut away from an American football game
between the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets to broadcast Heidi,
causing viewers in the Eastern United States to miss the game's dramatic
ending.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game>
2009:
Administrators at the University of East Anglia's Climatic
Research Unit discovered that their servers had been hacked and
thousands of emails and files on climate change had been stolen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ulp:
1. The sound of a person gulping in fear. [...]
2. (computer science, mathematics) The value that the least significant
digit of a floating-point number represents, used as a measure of
accuracy in numeric calculations.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ulp>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Politics, as I never tire of saying, is for social and emotional
misfits, handicapped folk, those with a grudge. The purpose of politics
is to help them overcome these feelings of inferiority and compensate
for their personal inadequacies in the pursuit of power.
--Auberon Waugh
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Auberon_Waugh>
The UEFA Euro 2008 Final was the last match of Euro 2008, UEFA's
competition for national football teams. The match was played at Ernst-
Happel-Stadion (pictured), Vienna, Austria, on 29 June 2008, and was
contested by Germany and Spain. The sixteen-team tournament had a group
stage, from which eight teams qualified for the knockout phase. Germany
lost to Croatia and beat Poland and Austria in Group B, and defeated
Portugal and Turkey in the knockouts. Spain beat Russia, Sweden and
Greece in Group D, and defeated Italy and Russia again in the
elimination games. The final took place in front of 51,428 supporters
and was refereed by Roberto Rosetti from Italy. Spain took the lead in
the 33rd minute through Fernando Torres. There were no more goals and
Spain won 1–0 to secure their second European title. Torres was named
the man of the match. Spain went on to win the 2010 FIFA World Cup in
South Africa, and retained their European title at Euro 2012.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2008_Final>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1776:
American Revolutionary War: British and Hessian units captured
Fort Washington on Manhattan from the Patriots.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Washington>
1938:
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann first synthesized the psychedelic
drug LSD in Basel, Switzerland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Hofmann>
1981:
About 30 million people watched the fictional couple Luke
Spencer and Laura Webber marry on the television show General Hospital
in the highest-rated hour in American soap opera history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_and_Laura>
1997:
Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng was released for "medical
reasons" after spending seventeen and a half of the previous eighteen
years in prison, and was deported to the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wei_Jingsheng>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
circuitry:
1. (countable) A specific system of electrical circuits in a particular
device; (uncountable) the design of such a system.
2. (uncountable) Electrical (or, by extension, other) circuits
considered as a group.
3. (uncountable, figuratively) The brain's neural network.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/circuitry>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You can't satisfy everybody; especially if there are those who
will be dissatisfied unless not everybody is satisfied.
--Robert Nozick
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Nozick>
Leighton Durham Reynolds (1930–1999) was a British Latinist who is
best known for his work on textual criticism. He spent his teaching
career at Brasenose College, Oxford (pictured), where he wrote the most
commonly cited edition of Seneca the Younger's Letters. The central
academic achievement of his career was his monograph The Medieval
Tradition of Seneca's Letters (1965), in which he reconstructed how the
text was transmitted through the Middle Ages. He also wrote critical
editions of Seneca's Dialogues, the works of the historian Sallust, and
Cicero's De finibus bonorum et malorum. In 1968, Reynolds and his Oxford
colleague Nigel Wilson co-authored a well-received introduction to
textual criticism. Writing about the set of critical editions authored
by Reynolds, the Latinist Michael Reeve stated that Reynolds's
scholarship "cut through dozens of manuscripts to the serviceable core".
When published, his work on Seneca was considered by some commentators
to be difficult to surpass.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._D._Reynolds>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1889:
Brazilian emperor Pedro II was overthrown in a coup led by
Deodoro da Fonseca, while the country was proclaimed a republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_and_fall_of_Pedro_II_of_Brazil>
1922:
Fountain of Time, in Chicago's Washington Park, was dedicated
as a tribute to 100 years of peace between the United States and Great
Britain following the Treaty of Ghent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_of_Time>
1943:
The Holocaust: Heinrich Himmler ordered that Romanies were to
be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_genocide>
1988:
The Soviet Buran spacecraft, a reusable vehicle built in
response to NASA's Space Shuttle program, was launched, uncrewed, on its
only flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_%28spacecraft%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
unwearied:
1. Not wearied, not tired.
2. Never tiring; tireless.
3. Not stopping; persistent, relentless.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unwearied>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A writer is unfair to himself when he is unable to be hard on
himself.
--Marianne Moore
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marianne_Moore>
Tornado over Kansas is a 1929 oil-on-canvas painting by the American
Regionalist painter John Steuart Curry. It depicts a dramatic scene in
which a family races for shelter as a tornado approaches their farm, and
has compositional connections to Curry's earlier 1928 painting Baptism
in Kansas. The artist was influenced by Baroque art and photographs of
tornadoes. He developed a fear of natural disasters and a reverence
towards God during his childhood, both of which seem apparent in the
painting. Following its 1930 debut, the painting was considered a
notable Regionalist work, but native Kansans disliked the choice of
subject matter. Although the painting won awards and was lauded by some,
others criticized Curry's amateur style of painting. It is among several
of Curry's works depicting tornadoes, including a set of 1932
lithographs. Tornado over Kansas has been widely reproduced in
publications including Time and Life magazines, and is now among Curry's
best-known works.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_over_Kansas>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1910:
Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performed the first takeoff from a
ship, flying from a makeshift deck on USS Birmingham in Hampton Roads,
Virginia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Burton_Ely>
1941:
Second World War: After suffering torpedo damage the previous
day, the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal sank as she was being
towed to Gibraltar for repairs.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ark_Royal_%2891%29>
1965:
Vietnam War: The United States Army and the People's Army of
Vietnam engaged at the Battle of Ia Drang.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ia_Drang>
1975:
With the signing of the Madrid Accords, Spain agreed to
withdraw its presence from the territory of Spanish Sahara.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid_Accords>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pandect:
1. (Ancient Rome, law, historical) Usually in the plural form Pandects:
a compendium or digest of writings on Roman law divided in 50 books,
compiled in the 6th century C.E. by order of the Eastern Roman emperor
Justinian I (c. 482–565).
2. (by extension, rare) Also in the plural form pandects: a
comprehensive collection of laws; specifically, the whole body of law of
a country; a legal code.
3. (by extension, also figuratively) A treatise or similar work that is
comprehensive as to a particular topic; specifically (Christianity) a
manuscript of the entire Bible.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pandect>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The only alternative to coexistence is codestruction.
--Jawaharlal Nehru
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru>
The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR) was a short-
lived state in the Caucasus that included most of the territory of
present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, and parts of Russia and
Turkey. The region was part of the Russian Empire, but as this dissolved
in 1917 with the February and October Revolutions the Transcaucasian
Commissariat took over in Transcaucasia. In March 1918, as the First
World War continued, the Commissariat initiated unsuccessful peace talks
with the Ottoman Empire, which had invaded the region. Russia withdrew
from the war later that month, conceding parts of the Transcaucasus to
the Ottomans. Faced with an Ottoman offensive, on 22 April 1918 the
Commissariat dissolved itself and established the TDFR. The Ottoman
Empire immediately recognized the TDFR, which directed its legislature,
the Seim, to hold peace talks. These broke down and, fearing fresh
Ottoman attacks, Georgian delegates in the Seim declared independence on
26 May. Armenia and Azerbaijan each declared themselves independent on
28 May, ending the federation.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcaucasian_Democratic_Federative_Republic>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1841:
Scottish surgeon James Braid observed a demonstration of animal
magnetism, which inspired him to study the subject he eventually called
hypnotism.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Braid_%28surgeon%29>
1927:
The Holland Tunnel, connecting Manhattan with Jersey City under
the Hudson River, opened.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland_Tunnel>
1966:
The Israeli military conducted a large cross-border assault on
the Jordanian-controlled West Bank village of Samu in response to a
Fatah land mine incident.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samu_incident>
2015:
Coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris perpetrated by the
Islamic State killed 130 people and injured 413 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2015_Paris_attacks>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
insatiate:
(archaic or literary) That is not satiated; insatiable.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/insatiate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Every good poet includes a critic; the reverse will not hold.
--William Shenstone
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Shenstone>
Interstate 82 (I-82) is an Interstate Highway in the Pacific Northwest
region of the United States that passes through parts of Washington and
Oregon. It runs southeasterly for 144 miles (232 km) from I-90 in
Ellensburg, Washington, to I-84 in Hermiston, Oregon. The highway passes
through Yakima, the Yakima Valley agricultural region, and the Tri-
Cities area, also serving as part of the link between Seattle and Boise,
Idaho. It crosses the Columbia River on the Umatilla Bridge (pictured),
which opened in 1955 and was later twinned. The corridor was originally
used by several state and national highways until I-82 was created in
late 1957. The first section to be constructed was a bypass of Yakima,
opened in 1963, which was extended north to Ellensburg on November 12,
1971. The Yakima Valley section, connecting Union Gap to Prosser, was
constructed between 1977 and 1982. The Tri-Cities bypass opened in 1986,
delayed by a lengthy routing dispute, and the final section was
completed in 1988.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_82>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1892:
William Heffelfinger was paid $500 by the Allegheny Athletic
Association, becoming the first professional American football player.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pudge_Heffelfinger>
1940:
World War II: Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov
arrived in Berlin to discuss the possibility of the Soviet Union joining
the Axis powers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German%E2%80%93Soviet_Axis_talks>
1991:
Indonesian forces opened fire on student demonstrators
protesting the occupation of East Timor in the capital Dili, killing at
least 250 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_massacre>
2011:
An explosion in the Shahid Modarres missile base led to the
deaths of 17 members of the Revolutionary Guards, including Hassan
Tehrani Moghaddam, a key figure in Iran's missile program.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_Tehrani_Moghaddam>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fichu:
(chiefly historical) A woman's lightweight triangular scarf worn over
the shoulders and tied in front, or tucked into a bodice to cover the
exposed part of the neck and chest.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fichu>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To understand is difficult; to act is easy.
--Sun Yat-sen
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sun_Yat-sen>
Cimoliopterus is a genus of pterosaur that lived during the Late
Cretaceous. The first known specimen, consisting of the front part of a
snout, was discovered in Kent, England, and described as the new species
Pterodactylus cuvieri in 1851. It was depicted as models in Crystal
Palace Park in the 1850s. In 2013, the species was moved to a new genus,
as Cimoliopterus cuvieri. In 2015, a snout discovered in Texas was named
as C. dunni, a new species in the genus. C. cuvieri is estimated to
have had a wingspan of 3.5 metres (11 ft), and C. dunni is thought to
have been similar in size. Cimoliopterus would have been covered in
pycnofibres (hair-like filaments), and had extensive wing-membranes,
distended by long wing-fingers. They were probably adapted for long-
distance oceanic soaring; their fossils have mainly been found in marine
settings. They possibly fed while flying by dipping their long jaws into
water and catching fish with their interlocking teeth.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimoliopterus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1813:
War of 1812: A British–Canadian force repelled an American
attack at the Battle of Crysler's Farm, forcing the United States to
give up their attempt to capture Montreal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crysler%27s_Farm>
1918:
The armistice between the German Empire and the Allies was
signed in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne of France
(signatories pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_of_11_November_1918>
1965:
Rhodesia, led by Prime Minister Ian Smith, unilaterally
declared independence from the United Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesia%27s_Unilateral_Declaration_of_Indepe…>
1975:
During a constitutional crisis in Australia, Governor-General
John Kerr dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's government and
dissolved Parliament for a double-dissolution election.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Australian_constitutional_crisis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
war-weary:
1. Weary or tired of war.
2. Tired from fighting in a war.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/war-weary>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Nothing in the world is harder than speaking the truth and
nothing easier than flattery. If there’s the hundredth part of a false
note in speaking the truth, it leads to a discord, and that leads to
trouble. But if all, to the last note, is false in flattery, it is just
as agreeable, and is heard not without satisfaction. It may be a coarse
satisfaction, but still a satisfaction. And however coarse the flattery,
at least half will be sure to seem true. That’s so for all stages of
development and classes of society.
--Crime and Punishment
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Crime_and_Punishment>