The Quelccaya Ice Cap (also known as the Quenamari Ice Cap) is the
second-largest glaciated area in the tropics, after Coropuna. Located in
the Cordillera Oriental in Peru's Andes, it covers an area of 42.8
square kilometres (16.5 sq mi) with ice up to 200 metres (660 ft)
thick. It is surrounded by tall ice cliffs and a number of outlet
glaciers, the largest of which is known as Qori Kalis Glacier. Quelccaya
is an important source of water, eventually nourishing the Inambari and
Vilcanota Rivers. It is regularly monitored and has a weather station.
Quelccaya was much larger in the past, merging with neighbouring
glaciers during the Pleistocene epoch. After reaching a secondary
highstand (area expansion) during the Little Ice Age, Quelccaya has been
shrinking due to human-caused climate change. Models predict that
without aggressive climate mitigation measures, Quelccaya is likely to
disappear during the 21st or 22nd century..
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_mitigation>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1927:
Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford became the first two
celebrities to imprint their handprints and footprints in cement
(Pickford's pictured) at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood,
California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grauman%27s_Chinese_Theatre>
1982:
Sixteen monks and a nun belonging to Ananda Marga in Calcutta,
India, were dragged out of taxis by persons unknown in three different
locations, beaten to death and then set on fire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bijon_Setu_massacre>
2004:
The New Yorker published an online article and photographs
detailing accounts of torture and abuse by American military personnel
of Iraqi prisoners held at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse>
_____________________________
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:
Keep your hands open, and all the sands of the desert can pass
through them. Close them, and all you can feel is a bit of grit.
--Taisen Deshimaru
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Taisen_Deshimaru>
Whitehawk Camp is the remains of a causewayed enclosure, on Whitehawk
Hill near Brighton, England. Causewayed enclosures are a form of early
Neolithic earthwork, characterized by the enclosure of an area with
ditches that are interrupted by gaps, or causeways. Their purpose is not
known. The site consists of four roughly concentric circular ditches; at
least two ditches touch the outermost circuit from the outside, one of
which is thought to date to about two thousand years after the earliest
dated activity at the site. Whitehawk was first excavated in 1929 and
again in the winter of 1932–1933. In 1935 the area to be crossed by a
new road was excavated. In 1991, during the construction of a housing
development, a ditch was discovered and excavated. In 2011, an analysis
of radiocarbon dates concluded that the Neolithic part of the site was
probably constructed between 3650 and 3500 BC, and probably went out of
use some time between 3500 and 3400 BC.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitehawk_Camp>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1826:
Scottish astronomer James Dunlop discovered Centaurus A, one
of the nearest radio galaxies to Earth.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaurus_A>
1944:
Second World War: British agent Nancy Wake parachuted into
Auvergne, becoming a liaison between the Special Operations Executive
and the local Maquis group.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Wake>
1991:
A powerful tropical cyclone struck Chittagong, Bangladesh,
killing at least 138,000 people and leaving up to 10 million homeless
across the region.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Bangladesh_cyclone>
2011:
Watched by a worldwide television audience of tens of millions,
Prince William and Catherine Middleton were married at Westminster Abbey
in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_of_Prince_William_and_Catherine_Middl…>
_____________________________
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:
I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could
see their planet from a distance of, let's say 100,000 miles, their
outlook would be fundamentally changed. The all-important border would
be invisible, that noisy argument suddenly silenced. The tiny globe
would continue to turn, serenely ignoring its subdivisions, presenting a
unified facade that would cry out for unified understanding, for
homogeneous treatment. The earth must become as it appears: blue and
white, not capitalist or communist; blue and white, not rich or poor;
blue and white, not envious or envied. I am not a naïve man. I don’t
believe that a glance from 100,000 miles would cause a Prime Minister to
scurry back to his parliament with a disarmament plan, but I do think it
would plant a seed that ultimately could grow into such concrete action.
--Michael Collins
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_%28astronaut%29>
The 4th Missouri Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served
in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Organized
on April 28, 1862, the regiment was present at the battle in Farmington
on May 9, and in Iuka on September 19. The regiment participated in
three charges against Union lines on October 3, 1862, during the Second
Battle of Corinth. On October 4, the regiment and its brigade attacked
fresh Union lines. Despite initial success, their attack was repulsed by
a Union counterattack. On November 7, 1862, the regiment was combined
with the 1st Missouri Infantry to form the 1st and 4th Missouri Infantry
Regiment (Consolidated). The combined unit served in the Vicksburg
campaign in 1863, before surrendering at the end of the Siege of
Vicksburg. After being exchanged, the men rejoined the Confederate Army
and served in the Atlanta campaign and the Battle of Franklin in 1864.
On May 9, 1865, the consolidated regiment surrendered during the Battle
of Fort Blakeley.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Missouri_Infantry_Regiment_%28Confederate…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
Fletcher Christian, the acting lieutenant on board the Royal
Navy ship Bounty, led a mutiny against the commander William Bligh in
the South Pacific.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty>
1910:
Flying from London to Manchester, French aviator Louis Paulhan
won the first long-distance aeroplane race in England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1910_London_to_Manchester_air_race>
1941:
World War II: Presaging a campaign of genocide against the
Serbs of Croatia, around 190 people were massacred by members of the
Ustaše movement in Gudovac.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gudovac_massacre>
2001:
American entrepreneur Dennis Tito boarded the Russian
spacecraft Soyuz TM-32 to the International Space Station, becoming the
world's first fee-paying space tourist.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Tito>
_____________________________
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:
You never really understand a person until you consider things
from his point of view — until you climb into his skin and walk around
in it.
--Harper Lee
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harper_Lee>
The 1985 World Snooker Championship final was a snooker match played on
the weekend of 27–28 April 1985 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield,
England. It was the final of the 1985 World Snooker Championship between
defending world champion Steve Davis and 1979 runner-up Dennis Taylor
(both pictured). The best-of-35-frames match was split into four
sessions; Taylor was never ahead during the match, but tied at 17–17.
The deciding frame culminated with several shots on the final ball –
the black – which Taylor potted to win his only world championship.
The final climaxed in the early hours of 29 April and was viewed by
18.5 million people in the UK, as of 2020 the record for a post-
midnight television audience. The total match time of 14 hours and
50 minutes is the longest recorded for a best-of-35-frames match. The
match is one of the most famous snooker matches of all time and part of
the reason for the surge in the sport's popularity in the 1980s and
1990s.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_World_Snooker_Championship_final>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1521:
Filipino natives led by chieftain Lapulapu killed Portuguese
explorer Ferdinand Magellan at the Battle of Mactan (depicted).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapulapu>
1777:
American Revolutionary War: British Army regulars defeated
Patriot militias in the Battle of Ridgefield, galvanizing resistance in
the Connecticut Colony.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ridgefield>
1904:
Chris Watson became the first prime minister of Australia from
the Labour Party.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Watson>
_____________________________
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:
My confidence in General Grant was not entirely due to the
brilliant military successes achieved by him, but there was a moral as
well as military basis for my faith in him. He had shown his single-
mindedness and superiority to popular prejudice by his prompt
cooperation with President Lincoln in his policy of employing colored
troops, and his order commanding his soldiers to treat such troops with
due respect. In this way he proved himself to be not only a wise
general, but a great man.
--Frederick Douglass
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass>
Bodashtart was a Phoenician ruler who reigned as King of Sidon
(c. 525 – c. 515 BC). He was a prolific builder, and his name is
attested on some 30 inscriptions near Sidon, Lebanon, the major source
of information on him. The earliest to be discovered was excavated in
Sidon in 1858 and was donated to the Louvre. Podium inscriptions
(example pictured) at the Temple of Eshmun were discovered between 1900
and 1922; some credit him with construction in the temple, while others
connect him and his son Yatonmilk with work there, emphasizing
Yatonmilk's legitimacy as heir. The most recently-discovered inscription
as of 2020 was found in the 1970s on the bank of the Bostrenos River,
crediting the king with the building of water canals to supply the
temple. Three of his Eshmun temple inscriptions have been left in place;
the others are housed in museums in Paris, Istanbul, and Beirut. He is
believed to have reigned for at least seven years, as evidenced by the
Bostrenos River bank inscription.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodashtart>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
U.S. Army soldiers cornered and fatally shot John Wilkes Booth,
the assassin of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln, ending a twelve-day
manhunt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkes_Booth>
1933:
The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany,
was established.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestapo>
1989:
An editorial was published in the People's Daily denouncing the
growing unrest in Tiananmen Square in Beijing which would remain
contentious through the remainder of the protests.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_26_Editorial>
1994:
Just before landing at Nagoya Airport, Japan, the copilot of
China Airlines Flight 140 inadvertently triggered the takeoff/go-around
switch, causing the aircraft to crash and killing 264 of the 271 people
on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_140>
_____________________________
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:
If mind is common to us, then also the reason, whereby we are
reasoning beings, is common. If this be so, then also the reason which
enjoins what is to be done or left undone is common. If this be so, law
also is common; if this be so, we are citizens; if this be so, we are
partakers in one constitution; if this be so, the Universe is a kind of
Commonwealth.
--Marcus Aurelius
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius>
Of Human Feelings is an album by American jazz saxophonist, composer,
and bandleader Ornette Coleman. It was recorded on April 25, 1979, at
CBS Studios in New York City with his band Prime Time (pictured), which
featured guitarists Charlie Ellerbee and Bern Nix, bassist Jamaaladeen
Tacuma, and drummers Calvin Weston and Coleman's son Denardo. It
followed the saxophonist's failed attempt to record a direct-to-disc
session earlier in the same year and was the first jazz album to be
recorded digitally in the United States. The album's jazz-funk music
continued Coleman's harmolodic approach to improvisation with Prime
Time. He also drew on rhythm and blues influences from earlier in his
career, and applied free jazz principles from his music during the 1960s
to elements of funk. Following a change in management, Coleman signed
with Island Records, and the album was released in 1982 by its
subsidiary label Antilles Records. Critics generally praised the album's
expressive music and harmolodic approach, but it made little commercial
impact.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Human_Feelings>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1792:
The French highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier became the
first person to be executed by guillotine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Jacques_Pelletier>
1915:
First World War: The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
landed at Anzac Cove while British and French troops landed at Cape
Helles to begin the Allied invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula in the
Ottoman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallipoli_campaign>
1960:
The U.S. Navy submarine Triton completed the first submerged
circumnavigation of the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sandblast>
2015:
An earthquake registering 7.8 Mw struck Nepal, resulting in
approximately 9,000 deaths and 22,000 injuries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2015_Nepal_earthquake>
_____________________________
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:
Einstein has a feeling for the central order of things. He can
detect it in the simplicity of natural laws. We may take it that he felt
this simplicity very strongly and directly during his discovery of the
theory of relativity. Admittedly, this is a far cry from the contents of
religion. I don't believe Einstein is tied to any religious tradition,
and I rather think the idea of a personal God is entirely foreign to
him. But as far as he is concerned there is no split between science and
religion: the central order is part of the subjective as well as the
objective realm, and this strikes me as being a far better starting
point.
--Wolfgang Pauli
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Pauli>
The Old Spanish Trail half dollar is a commemorative coin struck by the
United States Bureau of the Mint in 1935. It was designed by L. W.
Hoffecker, a coin dealer who had been the moving force behind the effort
for a Gadsden Purchase half dollar, vetoed by President Herbert Hoover
in 1930, and he sought another commemorative coin that he could control
if authorizing legislation was passed. He chose the travels of Spanish
officer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in the early 16th century. Though
Hoffecker's hometown of El Paso, Texas, is featured on the coin, Cabeza
de Vaca came nowhere near its site. Hoffecker purchased the coins from
the Mint at face value and sold them to collectors, ostensibly on behalf
of the local museum, but in fact for his personal profit, something he
later denied before Congress. His design for the coin, featuring the
head of a cow (the English meaning of cabeza de vaca), has brought mixed
reviews from numismatic commentators.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Spanish_Trail_half_dollar>
_______________________________
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>
1915:
The Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire began with the
arrest and deportation of hundreds of prominent Armenians in
Constantinople.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_Armenian_intellectuals_on_24_A…>
2011:
Secret documents relating to detainees at the United States'
Guantanamo Bay detention camp were released on WikiLeaks and several
independent news organizations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_files_leak>
_____________________________
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:
The good and the bad mix themselves so thoroughly in our
thoughts, even in our aspirations, that we must look for excellence
rather in overcoming evil than in freeing ourselves from its influence.
--Anthony Trollope
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_Trollope>
The pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba) is a seabird in the auk family,
Alcidae. It is dark brown with a black iridescent sheen and a
distinctive wing patch broken by a brown-black wedge in breeding
plumage. Its non-breeding plumage has mottled grey and black upperparts
and white underparts. The long bill is black, as are the claws. The
legs, feet, and inside of the mouth are red. It closely resembles the
black guillemot, which is slightly smaller and lacks the dark wing
wedge; combined, the two form a superspecies. Pigeon guillemots are
found on North Pacific coastal waters, from Siberia through Alaska to
California. They dive and pursue prey underwater, mostly small fish and
marine invertebrates near the sea floor. They are monogamous breeders,
nesting in small colonies close to the shore. Both parents incubate the
eggs and feed the chicks. The species has a large, stable population and
wide range.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_guillemot>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1516:
The best-known version of the Reinheitsgebot, German
regulations on the purity of beer, was adopted in Bavaria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot>
1918:
First World War: The British Royal Navy conducted an
unsuccessful raid on the German-occupied Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeebrugge_Raid>
1951:
American journalist William N. Oatis was arrested for espionage
by the communist government of Czechoslovakia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_N._Oatis>
1971:
The Rolling Stones released Sticky Fingers, the first album on
their own label, Rolling Stones Records.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_Fingers>
_____________________________
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:
Be collected; No more amazement; tell your piteous heart
There's no harm done.
--The Tempest
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Tempest>
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object
known to harbor life. It is the densest planet in the Solar System and
the largest and most massive of the four rocky planets. About 29% of
Earth's surface is land, with the remaining 71% covered with water and
much of Earth's polar regions covered in ice. Earth's interior is active
with a solid iron inner core, a liquid outer core that generates Earth's
magnetic field, and a convective mantle that drives plate tectonics.
Earth formed over 4.5 billion years ago. Within the first billion years
of Earth's history, life appeared in the oceans and began to affect
Earth's atmosphere and surface. Since then, the combination of Earth's
distance from the Sun, physical properties and geological history have
allowed life to evolve and thrive. Almost 8 billion humans live on
Earth and depend on its biosphere and natural resources for their
survival, but increasingly impact Earth's surface, atmosphere and other
life. (This article is part of a featured topic: Solar System.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Solar_System>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1876:
The Boston Red Caps defeated the Philadelphia Athletics in the
first game of baseball's National League.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1876_in_baseball>
1951:
Korean War: The Chinese People's Volunteer Army attacked
positions occupied mainly by Australian and Canadian forces, starting
the Battle of Kapyong.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kapyong>
1993:
Stephen Lawrence, a black British teenager, was murdered while
waiting for a bus in Eltham, London, leading to cultural changes of
attitudes on racism and the police, and to the law and police practice.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Stephen_Lawrence>
2013:
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested two men who were
plotting to commit terrorist attacks against Via Rail Canada operations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Via_Rail_Canada_terrorism_plot>
_____________________________
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:
The advantage of poetry over life is that poetry, if it is sharp
enough, may last.
--Louise Glück
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louise_Gl%C3%BCck>
The Battle of the Saw was the culminating battle of a campaign fought
between a Carthaginian army led by Hamilcar Barca and a rebel force led
by Spendius in 238 BC in what is now northern Tunisia. Carthage was
fighting a coalition of mutinous soldiers and rebellious African cities
in the Mercenary War which had started in 240 BC. Unable to confront
the Carthaginian war elephants and cavalry on open ground, the rebels
stayed on higher and rougher terrain and harassed the Carthaginian army.
After several months of campaigning, Hamilcar trapped the rebels. Pinned
against local mountains known as "the Saw" due to their sawlike shape,
with their supply lines blockaded and with their food exhausted, the
rebels ate their horses, their prisoners and then their slaves, hoping
that their comrades in Tunis would sortie to rescue them. Eventually,
the Carthaginians, led by their elephants, attacked the starving rebels
and they were all massacred. The captured rebel leaders were crucified
(depiction shown) in sight of their comrades in Tunis.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Saw>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
The Ladies of Trenton social club hosted a reception (depicted)
for President-elect George Washington as he journeyed to New York City
for his first inauguration.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington%27s_reception_at_Trenton>
1863:
Following his exile from Baghdad, Baháʼu'lláh, the founder
of the Baháʼí Faith, began a twelve-day stay in the Garden of
Ridván, where he declared himself to be "He whom God shall make
manifest".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%CA%BCu%27ll%C3%A1h>
1975:
Vietnam War: Nguyễn Văn Thiệu resigned as President of
South Vietnam and was succeeded by Trần Văn Hương as the town of
Xuân Lộc fell after a last stand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Xu%C3%A2n_L%E1%BB%99c>
_____________________________
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:
If you are sure you understand everything that is going on, you
are hopelessly confused.
--Walter Mondale
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_Mondale>