Dementia with Lewy bodies is a common dementia characterized by changes
in sleep, behavior, cognition, movement, and automatic bodily functions.
Symptoms worsen over time until cognitive decline interferes with normal
daily functioning. The core features are REM sleep behavior disorder (in
which people act out their dreams), visual hallucinations, marked
fluctuations in attention or alertness, and parkinsonism. The exact
cause is unknown, but involves deposits of abnormal clumps of protein in
the brain, known as Lewy bodies. Gastrointestinal and heart function can
be affected. Definitive diagnosis usually requires an autopsy, and a
probable diagnosis—based on symptoms and tests—is often missed.
Management of the many symptoms is challenging and involves multiple
specialties. There is no cure or medication to stop the disease
progression. After the suicide of Robin Williams (pictured) in 2014, his
autopsy found that diffuse Lewy bodies explained his symptoms.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_with_Lewy_bodies>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1378:
Unrepresented labourers in Florence revolted and violently took
over the city's government (depicted) to grant them political office.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciompi_Revolt>
1877:
Much of central Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was burned and looted
during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_railroad_strike_of_1877>
1977:
Libyan forces carried out a raid at Sallum, sparking a four-day
war with Egypt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian%E2%80%93Libyan_War>
2013:
Nour Ahmad Nikbakht, an Iranian diplomat in Yemen, was
kidnapped by al-Qaeda militants and held hostage for the next two years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Iranian_diplomat_kidnapping>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
aventurine:
1. A kind of brownish glass containing gold-coloured spangles.
2. (mineralogy, by extension) A variety of translucent quartz, spangled
throughout with scales of yellow mica.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aventurine>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When it comes to space, I see it as my job to build
infrastructure the hard way — I'm using my resources to put in place
heavy-lifting infrastructure so the next generation of people can have a
dynamic, entrepreneurial explosion into space. … I want thousands of
entrepreneurs doing amazing things in space, and to do that we need to
dramatically lower the cost of access to space.
--Jeff Bezos
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos>
The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary commemorative coins were issued by the
United States Mint in 2019 to mark the 50th anniversary of the first
crewed landing on the Moon on July 20, 1969, by Apollo 11 astronauts
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. There is a gold half eagle (five-dollar
coin), two sizes of silver dollars, and a copper-nickel clad half
dollar, all with the same design and curved, with the obverse concave
and the reverse convex. The obverse shows a bootprint on the lunar
surface, and the reverse (pictured), based on a well-known photo by
Armstrong, depicts the visor of Aldrin's space suit, reflecting
Armstrong, the U.S. flag and the Lunar Module Eagle. The depiction of
Aldrin made him the seventh individual depicted on a U.S. coin to be
alive at the time it was struck. The program was the most successful
U.S. commemorative coin issue since the 2014 National Baseball Hall of
Fame coins, with more than 600,000 Apollo 11 coins sold. The larger
silver dollar won the Coin of the Year Award for 2019-dated issues.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_50th_Anniversary_commemorative_coins>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1982:
Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated two
bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in London, killing eleven British
Army personnel and seven horses.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Park_and_Regent%27s_Park_bombings>
1997:
After being fully restored, USS Constitution, one of the
original six frigates of the United States Navy, sailed for the first
time in 116 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constitution>
2001:
Twenty-three-year-old Italian anti-globalist Carlo Giuliani was
shot dead by a police officer while protesting outside the 27th G8
summit held in Genoa, Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Carlo_Giuliani>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lunar:
1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling the Moon (that is, Luna, the Earth's
moon); Lunar.
2. Shaped like a crescent moon; lunate.
3. (chiefly historical) (Believed to be) influenced by the Moon, as in
character, growth, or properties.
4. (alchemy, chemistry, historical) Of or pertaining to silver (which
was symbolically associated with the Moon by alchemists).
5. (astronomy) Of or pertaining to travel through space between the
Earth and the Moon, or exploration and scientific investigation of the
Moon.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lunar>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The people we lost in Aurora loved, and were loved. They were
mothers and fathers; husbands and wives; sisters and brothers; sons and
daughters; friends and neighbors. They had hopes for the future and
dreams that were not yet fulfilled. And if there's anything to take away
from this tragedy, it's a reminder that life is fragile. Our time here
is limited and it is precious. And what matters in the end are not the
small and trivial things which often consume our lives. It's how we
choose to treat one another, and love one another. It's what we do on a
daily basis to give our lives meaning and to give our lives purpose.
That's what matters. That's why we're here.
--Barack Obama
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>
The two central characters of Carnivàle, an HBO television series, were
Ben Hawkins (actor pictured), a young man working in a traveling
carnival; and Brother Justin Crowe, a Californian preacher. Most of the
characters are introduced in Ben's story, though several others interact
mainly with Brother Justin; some appear in mysterious dreams and visions
connecting the slowly converging storylines. Show creator Daniel Knauf
submitted elaborate character biographies, which were rewritten before
the filming of the first season began and provided to the actors and
production personnel. The original character backgrounds were summarized
on HBO's website, and were provided in full to fans after the show's
cancellation. Due to their nature, these sources contain information on
the intended fate of the characters beyond the cancellation of
Carnivàle after the second season. They do not offer canon information
per se, but provide a frame for the characters' motivation throughout
the series. (This article is part of a featured topic: Carnivàle.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Carniv%C3%A0le>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1702:
Great Northern War: Polish–Saxon forces were defeated by a
Swedish army half their size at the Battle of Kliszów.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Klisz%C3%B3w>
1981:
French president François Mitterrand privately showed U.S.
president Ronald Reagan a dossier revealing that the Soviets had been
stealing American technological research and development.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farewell_Dossier>
2013:
The NASA spacecraft Cassini took a photograph of Saturn with
Earth in the distance (detail pictured), for which people were invited
to "wave at Saturn".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Smiled>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tall order:
(originally US, idiomatic) A big job; a difficult challenge.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tall_order>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When I'm gone, people will no doubt remember me for Queen, but I
would much rather be remembered for attempting to change the way we
treat our fellow creatures.
--Brian May
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brian_May>
"Temporary gentlemen" is a colloquial term referring to male officers of
the British Army who held temporary (or war-duration) commissions,
particularly when such men came from outside the traditional officer
class. Historically the officers of the British Army were drawn from the
gentry and upper middle classes. The First World War required a rapid
expansion of the officer corps and more than 200,000 additional officers
were recruited, many on temporary commissions. Many of these were drawn
from the lower middle and working classes. They came to be referred to
as "temporary gentlemen" with the expectation that they would revert to
their former social standing after the war. The term was revived in the
Second World War, which saw a similar increase in the number of officers
holding temporary commissions. The term continued to see use for
officers commissioned from those conscripted for National Service, which
lasted until 1963.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporary_gentlemen>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1841:
Pedro II, the last Emperor of Brazil, having reigned in
minority since 1831, was acclaimed, crowned and consecrated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_II_of_Brazil>
1949:
Francisco Javier Arana, Chief of the Armed Forces of Guatemala,
was killed in a shootout with supporters of President Juan José
Arévalo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Javier_Arana>
1976:
At the Olympic Games in Montreal, Nadia Comăneci became the
first person to score a perfect 10 in a modern Olympics gymnastics
event.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Com%C4%83neci>
1989:
American actress Rebecca Schaeffer was shot and killed by
Robert John Bardo, eventually prompting the passage of anti-stalking
laws in California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Schaeffer>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
get someone's goat:
(informal) To annoy or infuriate someone.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/get_someone%27s_goat>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Fiction is based on reality unless you're a fairy-tale artist,
you have to get your knowledge of life from somewhere. You have to know
the material you're writing about before you alter it.
--Hunter S. Thompson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson>
Paper Mario is a video game spinoff series of the Mario franchise,
developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for its
various video game consoles. The series began when Square took its Final
Fantasy franchise to Sony's PlayStation console, leaving Nintendo
without a role-playing game (RPG) for the Nintendo 64. The series
follows Mario on various quests to defeat one or more antagonists
(including Bowser) in worlds created with papercraft materials. The
first game in the series, Paper Mario, was released in August 2000. The
series has received praise for its writing, characters, and graphics,
but garnered criticism for its transition from traditional role-playing
to action-adventure, starting with Super Paper Mario for the Wii. The
newest game in the series, The Origami King, was released on July 17,
2020.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_Mario>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1771:
Dene men, acting as guides to Samuel Hearne on his exploration
of the Coppermine River in present-day Nunavut, Canada, massacred a
group of about 20 Copper Inuit.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Falls_massacre>
1968:
Led by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party
overthrew Iraqi president Abdul Rahman Arif.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17_July_Revolution>
1981:
A structural failure caused a walkway at the Hyatt Regency
hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S., to collapse (damage pictured),
killing 114 people and injuring 216 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt_Regency_walkway_collapse>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
justice delayed is justice denied:
If a wrong is not corrected within a reasonable time, it is as though
the wrong were not corrected at all.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/justice_delayed_is_justice_denied>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
First-time novelists have a tough row to hoe. Our publishers
don't have a lot of promotional budget to throw at unknown factors like
us. Mostly, we rise and fall based on word-of-mouth.
--Cory Doctorow
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cory_Doctorow>
Morningside Park is a 30-acre (12-hectare) public park in Upper
Manhattan, New York City. The area, originally known as "Muscota" by the
Lenape Native Americans, features a cliff that separates Morningside
Heights (to the west) from Harlem. The city commissioned Central Park's
designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux to produce a design for
the park, which they did in 1873. Jacob Wrey Mould was hired to design
new plans in 1880, but little progress occurred until Olmsted and Vaux
were asked to modify their plans following Mould's death in 1886. After
the park was completed in 1895, three sculptures were installed:
Lafayette and Washington, Carl Schurz Memorial, and Alfred Lincoln
Seligman Fountain. Columbia University proposed constructing a gym in
the park's southern end in the early 1960s, but abandoned the plan after
students protested in 1968. The site of the unbuilt gym was turned into
a waterfall and pond around 1990, and an arboretum was added in 1998.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morningside_Park_%28Manhattan%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1931:
Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie promulgated the nation's first
constitution, replacing the Fetha Nagast, which had been the supreme law
since the Middle Ages.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1931_Constitution_of_Ethiopia>
1951:
The Catcher in the Rye, an American coming-of-age novel by
J. D. Salinger, was first published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye>
1983:
A Sikorsky S-61 helicopter operated by British Airways crashed
in thick fog in the Celtic Sea, killing 20 of the 26 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_British_Airways_Sikorsky_S-61_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
wristlet:
1. An elastic band worn to keep a glove from slipping off the wrist.
2. A decorative band or bracelet that encircles the wearer's wrist;
especially, a closely knitted one to keep it warm; a muffetee.
3. A small handbag with a short strap for attaching it to the wearer's
wrist.
4. A handcuff.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wristlet>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done
reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of
yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.
That doesn't happen much, though.
--The Catcher in the Rye
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye>
In the late 1920s, American automaker General Motors (GM) introduced
four brands to supplement its five existing brands of passenger cars. In
descending order of price, these were LaSalle, to supplement Cadillac;
Viking (example pictured), to supplement Oldsmobile; Marquette, to
supplement Buick; and Pontiac, to supplement Oakland. The brands were
introduced in an effort to fill gaps in GM's pricing ladder and produce
cars that were cheaper to make for its existing divisions. The Great
Depression resulted in the failure of most of these brands. Viking and
Marquette were each discontinued within two years of their
introductions, and LaSalle after slightly more than a decade. Pontiac
had the opposite fate; it was Oakland that would be discontinued, while
Pontiac would continue until 2010.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_companion_make_program>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1910:
Emil Kraepelin published a new edition of his Textbook of
Psychiatry, including for the first time Alzheimer's disease, named
after his colleague Alois Alzheimer.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzheimer%27s_disease>
1966:
Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese troops began
Operation Hastings to push North Vietnamese forces out of the
Demilitarized Zone.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Hastings>
2014:
A Moscow Metro train derailed, killing 24 people and injuring
160 others in the deadliest accident in the metro system's history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Moscow_Metro_derailment>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
kombu:
Edible kelp (“a type of brown seaweed”) (from the class Phaeophyceae)
used in East Asian cuisine.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kombu>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All purposeful manifestations of life, including their very
purposiveness, in the final analysis have their end not in life but in
the expression of its nature, in the representation of its significance.
--Walter Benjamin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_Benjamin>
Squirm is a 1976 American horror film written and directed by Jeff
Lieberman, starring Don Scardino, Patricia Pearcy, R. A. Dow, Jean
Sullivan, Peter MacLean, Fran Higgins and William Newman. The film takes
place in the fictional town of Fly Creek, Georgia, which becomes
infested with carnivorous worms due to a downed power line. Lieberman's
script is based on a childhood incident in which his brother fed
electricity into a patch of earth, causing earthworms to rise to the
surface. Millions of worms were used over the five-week filming in Port
Wentworth, Georgia; worms were brought in from Maine to augment local
supplies. Makeup artist Rick Baker (pictured) provided the special
effects, using prosthetic makeup. After American International Pictures
picked up Squirm for distribution, it was edited to remove the more
graphic scenes in a failed attempt to lower its "R" rating to "PG". The
film was a commercial success, but had lukewarm reviews. It has since
become a critical favorite and a cult classic.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirm>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1874:
A fire destroyed 812 structures and killed 20 people in
Chicago, leading to reforms in the city's fire-prevention and
firefighting efforts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Fire_of_1874>
1902:
St Mark's Campanile in Venice collapsed (ruins pictured),
demolishing the Loggetta del Sansovino and killing the custodian's cat.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mark%27s_Campanile>
1987:
More than 100 mm (3.9 in) of rain fell in a two-and-a-half-
hour period in Montreal, causing severe flooding and more than
C$220 million in damage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_flood_of_1987>
2003:
In an effort to discredit U.S. ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, who
had written an op-ed criticizing the invasion of Iraq, his wife Valerie
Plame's identity as a CIA operative was leaked to and published by
journalist Robert Novak.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plame_affair>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
l'esprit de l'escalier:
The phenomenon when a conversational rejoinder or remark only occurs to
someone after the opportunity to make it has passed.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/l%27esprit_de_l%27escalier>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The people are building a peaceful world, and when the job is
done That'll be the biggest thing that man has ever done.
--Woody Guthrie
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Woody_Guthrie>
In Australia, Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters have been
operated by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) for most of the period
since 1974. Twenty-six Chinooks have entered Australian service,
comprising twelve CH-47C variants, four CH-47Ds and ten CH-47Fs. They
have been operated by both the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and the
Australian Army. Twelve CH-47C Chinooks were ordered in 1970 and entered
service with the RAAF in 1974. The eleven surviving Chinooks were
retired in 1989 as a cost-saving measure. However, it was found that
the ADF's other helicopters could not replace their capabilities, so
four were upgraded to CH-47D standard, and returned to service with the
army in 1995. The army acquired two more CH-47Ds in 2000 and another
pair in 2012. The CH-47Ds were replaced with ten new CH-47F Chinooks
during 2015 and 2016. They have mainly been used to support the army,
though they have performed a wide range of other tasks. Chinooks formed
part of the Australian contribution to the Iraq War in 2003 and to the
war in Afghanistan.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CH-47_Chinook_in_Australian_service>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1793:
Charlotte Corday assassinated the French revolutionary leader
Jean-Paul Marat in his bathtub (depicted); his death became a pretext
for the subsequent Reign of Terror.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Corday>
1878:
At the conclusion of the Congress of Berlin, the great powers
of Europe signed the Treaty of Berlin to redraw the map of the Balkans.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Berlin_%281878%29>
1973:
Watergate scandal: Under questioning by Senate investigators,
White House deputy chief of staff Alexander Butterfield revealed the
existence of a secret taping system in the Oval Office.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_White_House_tapes>
2008:
War in Afghanistan: Taliban guerrillas attacked U.S. troops at
the Battle of Wanat in Nuristan Province.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wanat>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
calvous:
1. (formal, medicine, rare) Lacking most or all of one's hair; bald,
hairless.
2. (botany, rare) Lacking bristles or pappuses.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/calvous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The eye instinctively looks for analogies and amplifies them, so
that a face imagined in the pattern of a wallpaper may become more vivid
than a photograph.
--Kenneth Clark
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kenneth_Clark>
The National Union of Freedom Fighters (NUFF) was an armed Marxist
revolutionary group in Trinidad and Tobago. The group fought a guerrilla
campaign to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Eric Williams
following the failed 1970 Black Power uprising and a mutiny in the
Trinidad and Tobago Regiment. NUFF formed from the Western United
Liberation Front, a loose grouping of largely unemployed men from the
western suburbs of Port of Spain. NUFF drew disaffected members of the
National Joint Action Committee, a Black Power organisation, and
established a training camp in south Trinidad. In 1972 and 1973 NUFF
attacked police posts to acquire weapons, robbed banks, and carried out
an insurgent campaign against the government. With improved intelligence
capabilities, the government eventually killed or captured most of its
leadership. Eighteen NUFF members and three policemen were killed over
the course of the insurgency. NUFF was anti-imperialist and anti-
capitalist and was notable for the extent to which women played an
active role in the organisation, including among its guerrilla fighters.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Union_of_Freedom_Fighters>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1801:
French Revolutionary Wars: A squadron of British ships of the
line defeated a larger squadron of Spanish and French vessels in the
Strait of Gibraltar.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Algeciras>
1971:
The Australian Aboriginal Flag, one of the official flags of
Australia, was first flown in Victoria Square, Adelaide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Aboriginal_Flag>
2006:
Hezbollah forces crossed the Israel–Lebanon border and
attacked Israeli military positions while firing rockets and mortars at
Israeli towns, sparking a five-week war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Hezbollah_cross-border_raid>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
abeyant:
Being in a state of abeyance; suspended.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abeyant>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We're here to make space more accessible to all. We want to turn
the next generation of dreamers into the astronauts of today and
tomorrow. We've all us on this stage have had the most extraordinary
experience, and we'd love it if a number of you can have it, too. … If
you ever had a dream, now is the time to make it come true — and I'd
like to end by saying welcome to the dawn of a new space age.
--Richard Branson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Branson>