Bajadasaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur of northern Patagonia,
Argentina, from around 145 to 133 million years ago during the Early
Cretaceous epoch. It was first described in 2019 based on a single
specimen (elements pictured) found in 2010 that includes a largely
complete skull and parts of the neck. The only species is Bajadasaurus
pronuspinax. The genus is a member of Dicraeosauridae, a group of
relatively small and short-necked sauropods. Bajadasaurus sported
bifurcated (two-pronged), extremely elongated neural spines extending
from the neck; the 2019 description of Bajadasaurus suggested that they
could have served as passive defense against predators. The skull was
slender and equipped with around 48 teeth that were pencil-shaped and
restricted to the front of the jaws. Its eye openings were exposed in
top view, possibly allowing the animal to look forwards while feeding.
It shared its environment with other dinosaurs including the sauropod
Leinkupal and different theropods.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bajadasaurus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1897:
Thomas Edison was granted a patent for the Kinetoscope, a
precursor to the modern movie projector.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetoscope>
1907:
Russia and the United Kingdom signed the Anglo-Russian
Convention, defining their respective spheres of interest in Persia,
Afghanistan, and Tibet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Russian_Convention>
1941:
World War II: A detachment of Chetniks captured the town of
Loznica in German-occupied Serbia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Loznica_%281941%29>
1998:
North Korea claimed to have successfully launched its first
satellite, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1, although no objects were ever tracked in
orbit from the launch.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwangmy%C5%8Fngs%C5%8Fng-1>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
chantwell:
(chiefly Trinidad and Tobago, music) A (generally female) lead singer of
traditional cariso music, or of a calypso band.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chantwell>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I'm here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from
Afghanistan and the end of the military mission to evacuate American
citizens, third country nationals and vulnerable Afghans. The last C-17
lifted off from Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 30th, this
afternoon, at 3:29 p.m. east coast time, and the last manned aircraft is
now clearing the space above Afghanistan. … Tonight's withdrawal
signifies both the end of the military component of the evacuation, but
also the end of the nearly 20-year mission that began in Afghanistan
shortly after September 11th 2001.
--Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr.
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kenneth_F._McKenzie_Jr.>
Mary Shelley (30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English
novelist who wrote the Gothic novel Frankenstein (1818), an early
example of science fiction. She also edited and promoted the works of
her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley, who
drowned in a sailing accident in 1822. Scholarly appreciation has
increased in recent decades for her novels, including Valperga, Perkin
Warbeck, Lodore, Falkner, and the apocalyptic The Last Man, as well as
her biographical articles for Dionysius Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia.
The influences of her mother, the philosopher and feminist Mary
Wollstonecraft, are evident in Shelley's travel narrative Rambles in
Germany and Italy. Shelley often argued in favour of cooperation and
sympathy as skills for reforming civil society; this view challenged the
individualistic Romantic ethos promoted by her husband and the
Enlightenment ideals of her father, William Godwin.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Shelley>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
526:
Upon the death of her father Theodoric the Great, Amalasuintha
of the Ostrogoths became the regent for her ten-year-old son Athalaric.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalasuintha>
1914:
World War I: The Battle of Tannenberg resulted in the almost
complete destruction of the Russian 2nd Army by the German 8th Army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tannenberg>
1974:
An express train carrying foreign workers from Yugoslavia to
West Germany derailed in Zagreb, killing 153 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zagreb_train_disaster>
2014:
Prime minister of Lesotho Tom Thabane fled to South Africa,
claiming that the army had launched a coup d'état.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Lesotho_political_crisis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
xerocracy:
(informal) Political influence achieved by copying and distributing
leaflets and similar material.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xerocracy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin
it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.
--Warren Buffett
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett>
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film
directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a
story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford
(pictured), Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies,
and Denholm Elliott. Ford portrays Indiana Jones, a globe-trotting
archaeologist vying with Nazi forces in 1936 to recover the lost Ark of
the Covenant, a relic said to make an army invincible. With his former
lover Marion Ravenwood (Allen), Jones races to stop rival archaeologist
René Belloq (Freeman) from guiding the Nazis to the Ark. Principal
photography took place during June–September 1980 on sets at Elstree
Studios, England, and on location in Tunisia, Hawaii, and La Rochelle.
The highest-grossing film of 1981, it won five Oscars, seven Saturn
Awards, and one BAFTA. Appearing in many lists of all-time best films,
it has had a lasting impact on popular culture. It led to further
Indiana Jones films, games and toys.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raiders_of_the_Lost_Ark>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1885:
Gottlieb Daimler patented the world's first internal-combustion
motorcycle, the Reitwagen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_Reitwagen>
1949:
The Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear weapons test,
detonating the 22-kiloton RDS-1.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDS-1>
1991:
Italian businessman Libero Grassi was killed by the Sicilian
Mafia in Palermo after taking a public stand against their extortion
demands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libero_Grassi>
1996:
Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 crashed on approach to Svalbard
Airport, Norway, killing all 141 on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vnukovo_Airlines_Flight_2801>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ex contractu:
(law, postpositive) Of a legal obligation: arising from a contractual
relationship.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ex_contractu>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
War is wretched beyond description, and only a fool or a fraud
could sentimentalize its cruel reality.
--John McCain
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_McCain>
William Lyon Mackenzie (March 12, 1795 – August 28, 1861) was a
Scottish-born Canadian-American journalist and politician. He founded
newspapers critical of the Family Compact, represented York County in
the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada and aligned with Reformers.
Dundee-born, Mackenzie emigrated to York, Upper Canada, (now Toronto) in
1820 and published his first newspaper in 1824. He was elected to the
legislative assembly in 1827 and became Toronto's first mayor in 1834.
In 1837, he commanded the rebels in the Upper Canada Rebellion, but was
defeated at the Battle of Montgomery's Tavern. He fled to the U.S. to
rally American support for an invasion of Upper Canada. This violated
the Neutrality Act and he was imprisoned. He discovered and published
documents that outlined corrupt financial transactions and government
appointments by New York state officials. He represented Haldimand
County in the legislature of the Province of Canada from 1851 to 1858,
and died in August 1861.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lyon_Mackenzie>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1833:
The Slavery Abolition Act 1833, officially abolishing slavery
in most of the British Empire, received royal assent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_Abolition_Act_1833>
1901:
Silliman University in Dumaguete, Philippines, was founded as
the first American educational institution in Asia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silliman_University>
1963:
American civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered
his "I Have a Dream" speech, envisioning a future in which blacks and
whites coexisted harmoniously as equals.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_a_Dream>
1973:
Swedish police used gas bombs to end a seven-day hostage
situation in Stockholm; during the incident the hostages had bonded with
their captors, leading to the term Stockholm syndrome.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norrmalmstorg_robbery>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Faustian bargain:
1. (idiomatic) An agreement in which a person abandons his or her
spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain knowledge,
wealth or other benefits.
2. (idiomatic) A deal in which one focuses on present gain without
considering the long-term consequences.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Faustian_bargain>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good
poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few
reasonable words.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe>
USS Iowa is a retired battleship, the lead ship of her class and the
last lead ship of any class of United States battleships. Iowa served
with the Pacific Fleet in 1944, shelling beachheads at Kwajalein and
Eniwetok and screening aircraft carriers operating in the Marshall
Islands. She also served as the flagship of the Third Fleet, flying
Admiral William F. Halsey's flag at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay.
During the Korean War, Iowa was involved in raids on the North Korean
coast, after which she was decommissioned. She was reactivated in 1984
and operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets to counter the
recently expanded Soviet Navy. In April 1989, an explosion wrecked her
No. 2 gun turret, killing 47 sailors. Iowa was decommissioned for the
last time in October 1990 after 19 total years of active service. In
2012 she was donated to the nonprofit Pacific Battleship Center and
opened as a museum in Los Angeles. (This article is part of a featured
topic: Iowa-class battleships.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Iowa-class_battlesh…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1896:
In the shortest recorded war in history, the Sultanate of
Zanzibar surrendered to the United Kingdom after less than an hour of
conflict.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zanzibar_War>
1964:
South Vietnamese junta leader Nguyễn Khánh entered into a
triumvirate power-sharing arrangement with rival generals Trần Thiện
Khiêm and Dương Văn Minh, who had both been involved in plots to
unseat Khánh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C6%B0%C6%A1ng_V%C4%83n_Minh>
2003:
Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years,
passing within approximately 55,758,000 kilometres (34,650,000 mi).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
as ever trod shoe-leather:
(idiomatic, archaic) As ever existed or lived.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/as_ever_trod_shoe-leather>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Those who have served through the ages have drawn inspiration
from the book of Isaiah, when the Lord says: "Who shall I send, who
shall go for us?" American military has been answering for a long time:
"Here I am, Lord send me. Here I am, send me." Each one of these women
and men of our armed forces are the heirs of that tradition of sacrifice
of volunteering to go in harm's way — to risk everything — not for
glory, not for profit but to defend what we love and the people we love.
And I ask that you join me now, in a moment of silence, for all those,
in uniform and out; beautiful military and civilians who have given the
last full measure of devotion.
--Joe Biden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden>
The Crécy campaign was an expedition by an English army from the north
of Normandy to the County of Boulogne, devastating the French
countryside on a wide front, followed by the successful siege of Calais.
It began on 12 July 1346 during the Hundred Years' War. Led by King
Edward III, the English stormed and sacked Caen, slaughtering the
population. They then devastated the country to the suburbs of Rouen
before cutting a swath along the Seine's left bank to Poissy, 20 miles
(30 km) from Paris. Turning north, the English became trapped in
territory which the French had denuded of food. They escaped by fighting
their way across the Somme against a French blocking force. Two days
later, on ground of their choosing, the English inflicted a heavy defeat
on the French at the Battle of Crécy on 26 August, before moving on to
besiege Calais. After an eleven-month siege, which severely stretched
both countries' financial and military resources, the town fell.
(This article is part of a featured topic: Crécy campaign.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Cr%C3%A9cy_campaign>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1346:
Hundred Years' War: English forces established the military
supremacy of the English longbow over the French combination of crossbow
and armoured knights at the Battle of Crécy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cr%C3%A9cy>
1748:
The first Lutheran denomination in North America, the
Pennsylvania Ministerium, was founded in Philadelphia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Ministerium>
1978:
Aboard the Soviet Soyuz 31 spacecraft, Sigmund Jähn became the
first German in space.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_J%C3%A4hn>
2008:
After a ceasefire was reached in the Russo-Georgian War, Russia
recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_recognition_of_Abkhazia_and_Sou…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
doldrums:
1. Usually preceded by the: a state of apathy or lack of interest; a
situation where one feels boredom, ennui, or tedium; a state of
listlessness or malaise.
2. (nautical) Usually preceded by the: the state of a sailing ship when
it is impeded by calms or light, baffling winds, and is unable to make
progress.
3. (nautical, oceanography, by extension) Usually preceded by the: a
part of the ocean near the equator where calms, squalls, and light,
baffling winds are common.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/doldrums>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but
to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.
--John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Buchan,_1st_Baron_Tweedsmuir>
Santería is an African diasporic religion that developed among Afro-
Cuban communities during the late 19th century. It arose through the
syncretism of the Yoruba religion of West Africa, the Roman Catholic
form of Christianity, and Spiritism. Santería is an initiatory
tradition with no central authority. It is polytheistic and revolves
around deities called oricha. Deriving their names and attributes from
traditional Yoruba divinities, they are equated with Roman Catholic
saints. Each human is believed to have a personal link to a particular
oricha. Practitioners venerate the oricha at altars, where offerings
include fruit, liquor, flowers and sacrificial animals. A central ritual
involves practitioners drumming, singing, and dancing to encourage an
oricha to possess one of their members and thus communicate with them.
Healing rituals and the preparation of herbal remedies and talismans
also play a prominent role. The number of initiates is estimated to be
in the high hundreds of thousands.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santer%C3%ADa>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1609:
Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei demonstrated his first
telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei>
1758:
Seven Years' War: Prussian forces engaged the Russians at the
Battle of Zorndorf in present-day Sarbinowo, Poland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Zorndorf>
1941:
Second World War: Soviet, British and Commonwealth armed forces
invaded Iran to secure oil fields and Allied supply lines for the Soviet
Union.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Soviet_invasion_of_Iran>
2001:
American singer Aaliyah and several members of her record
company were killed when their overloaded aircraft crashed shortly after
taking off from Marsh Harbour Airport in the Bahamas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Marsh_Harbour_Cessna_402_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
or bust:
(chiefly US, informal) Used to indicate one's intention to do everything
possible to achieve a goal, with failure being the only alternative.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/or_bust>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Every writer hopes or boldly assumes that his life is in some
sense exemplary, that the particular will turn out to be universal.
--Martin Amis
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Amis>
The Chandler's Ford shooting was an attempted robbery on
13 September 2007 in which two men were shot dead by officers of
London's Metropolitan Police while robbing a cash-in-transit van. The
Met had been tracking a gang who had stolen an estimated £500,000 from
security vans and learned that the gang intended to rob the HSBC bank in
Chandler's Ford. Armed officers hid nearby early in the morning, with
snipers in overlooking buildings. Shortly after the G4S van's arrival, a
masked Mark Nunes demanded at gunpoint that the guard hand over the cash
box. A police sniper shot Nunes in the chest. A second gangster, Andrew
Markland, picked up Nunes's gun and was shot twice by another sniper.
Officers gave first aid but both men died. An IPCC investigation
concluded that the snipers had acted properly, though it found flaws in
the planning. An inquest reached a verdict of lawful killing, after
which the IPCC recommended that an independent firearms commander be
appointed to lead future operations.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandler%27s_Ford_shooting>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1821:
The Treaty of Córdoba was signed, ratifying the Plan of Iguala
and concluding the Mexican War of Independence with Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_C%C3%B3rdoba>
1921:
The Royal Navy's R.38, the world's largest airship at the time,
was destroyed by a structural failure over Hull, killing 44 of the 49
crew aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R38-class_airship>
1941:
Adolf Hitler ordered the suspension of the T4 euthanasia
program of the mentally ill and disabled, although killings continued in
secret for the remainder of World War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aktion_T4>
2006:
The International Astronomical Union redefined the term planet,
thus reclassifying Pluto as a dwarf planet due to not having "cleared
the neighbourhood" around its orbit.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAU_definition_of_planet>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bandura:
(music) A Ukrainian plucked stringed instrument with a tear-shaped body,
like an asymmetrical lute or a vertical zither, which is played with
both hands while held upright on the lap.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bandura>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
As I think of the many myths, there is one that is very harmful,
and that is the myth of countries.
--Jorge Luis Borges
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges>
Edvard August Vainio (1853–1929) was a Finnish lichenologist. His
early works on the lichens of Lapland, his three-volume monograph on the
lichen genus Cladonia, and, in particular, his study of the
classification and form and structure of lichens in Brazil made Vainio
renowned internationally. Vainio's earliest works dealt with
phytogeography—elucidating and enumerating flora and its
distribution—in the Finnish language. In these publications he
demonstrated an attention to detail and thoroughness that became
characteristic of his later work. Vainio described about 1700 new taxa,
and published more than 100 scientific works. He made significant
scientific collections of lichens, and while a herbarium curator at the
University of Helsinki and the University of Turku he catalogued and
processed other collections from all over the world. He has been called
the Father of Brazilian Lichenology and the Grand Old Man of
Lichenology.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edvard_August_Vainio>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1898:
The Southern Cross Expedition (dogsled team pictured), the
first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration,
departed London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Cross_Expedition>
1929:
Palestine riots: Arabs began attacking Jews in Hebron, killing
more than sixty people in two days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1929_Hebron_massacre>
1944:
King Michael dismissed the pro-Axis government of General Ion
Antonescu, placing Romania on the side of the Allies for the remainder
of World War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_Antonescu>
2011:
A 5.8 MW earthquake struck the Piedmont region of Virginia,
and was felt by more people than any other quake in U.S. history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Virginia_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
limn:
1. (transitive, also figuratively) To draw or paint; to delineate.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To illuminate, as a manuscript; to decorate
with gold or some other bright colour.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/limn>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It would be well if, in studying the past, we could always bear
in mind the problems of the present, and go to that past to seek large
views of what is of lasting importance to the human race.
--Arnold Toynbee
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arnold_Toynbee>
Arsenal Women and Bristol City Women played an association football
match on 1 December 2019 that ended with a scoreline of 11–1. It was
part of the 2019–20 Football Association Women's Super League
(FA WSL) and became the highest-scoring game in the league's history.
At the time Arsenal were the reigning champions and third in the league;
Bristol City were in tenth position. Dutch international striker
Vivianne Miedema scored six of the eleven Arsenal goals, a league
record, surpassing South Korean Ji So-yun to become the highest-scoring
non-British player in FA WSL history. Miedema was also involved in four
of the other five Arsenal goals, which were scored by Lisa Evans
(twice), Leah Williamson, Jordan Nobbs, and Emma Mitchell. Yana Daniëls
scored the only goal for Bristol City. The result put Arsenal top of the
league and left Bristol City in eleventh place out of twelve clubs. The
return match was never played, as the season was suspended because of
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenal_Women_11%E2%80%931_Bristol_City_Women>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1711:
Queen Anne's War: A British attempt to attack Quebec failed
when eight ships wrecked on the St. Lawrence River.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Expedition>
1851:
The yacht America won the Cup of One Hundred Sovereigns race,
later renamed the America's Cup, near the Isle of Wight, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1851_America%27s_Cup>
1961:
Ida Siekmann jumped from a window in her tenement building
trying to flee to West Berlin, becoming the first person to die at the
Berlin Wall.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Siekmann>
1985:
A fire broke out on British Airtours Flight 28M, causing 55
deaths mostly due to smoke inhalation and bringing about changes to make
aircraft evacuation more effective.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airtours_Flight_28M>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lorry:
1. (road transport, Britain) A motor vehicle for transporting goods, and
in some cases people; a truck.
2. (dated) A barrow or truck for shifting baggage, as at railway
stations.
3. (dated) A small cart or wagon used on the tramways in mines to carry
coal or rubbish.
4. (obsolete) A large, low, horse-drawn, four-wheeled wagon without
sides; also, a similar wagon modified for use on railways.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lorry>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
People ask me to predict the future, when all I want to do is
prevent it. Better yet, build it. Predicting the future is much too
easy, anyway. You look at the people around you, the street you stand
on, the visible air you breathe, and predict more of the same. To hell
with more. I want better.
--Ray Bradbury
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury>