Arthur Sullivan (1896–1937) was an Australian recipient of the
Victoria Cross. Born in South Australia, Sullivan enlisted in the
Australian Imperial Force during World War I. Sent to the United
Kingdom, he completed training after the Armistice came into effect.
Wanting to see active service, he sought his discharge and enlisted in
the British Army with the North Russia Relief Force, part of the Allied
intervention in the Russian Civil War. In the early morning of
11 August 1919 he was a member of a rearguard withdrawing across the
Sheika River in North Russia. As his platoon crossed the river on a one-
plank bridge, it came under intense fire from Bolshevik troops, and four
men fell into the river. Sullivan jumped in and rescued all four, one by
one; he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions. He was part of
the Australian Coronation Contingent in London for the coronation of
King George VI in 1937 when he died of head injuries received in a
fall.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Sullivan_%28Australian_soldier%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1492:
The first papal conclave to be held in the Sistine Chapel
elected Roderic Borja as Pope Alexander VI to succeed Innocent VIII.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1492_papal_conclave>
1786:
Francis Light founded George Town, the first British settlement
in Southeast Asia and the present-day capital of the Malaysian state of
Penang.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Town,_Penang>
1952:
King Talal of Jordan was forced to abdicate due to health
reasons and was succeeded by his eldest son Hussein (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein_of_Jordan>
1973:
At a party in the recreation room of a New York City apartment
building, Jamaican musician DJ Kool Herc began rapping during an
extended break, laying the foundation for hip-hop music.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJ_Kool_Herc>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Weimarization:
(politics, American spelling, Oxford British English) A state of
economic crisis leading to political upheaval and extremism.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Weimarization>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The sign work of the Orient it runneth up and down; The Talmud
stalks from right to left, a rabbi in a gown;The Roman rolls from left
to right from Maytime unto May; But the gods shake up their symbols in
an absent-minded way.Their language runs to circles like the language of
the eyes, Emphasised by strange dilations with little panting sighs.
--Nathalia Crane
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nathalia_Crane>
Hurricane Olivia was a Category 4 hurricane that hit Hawaii as a
weakening tropical storm in September 2018, causing severe flooding and
wind damage. Olivia was the first tropical cyclone to make landfall on
either Maui or Lanai since modern weather records began. It was the
fifteenth named storm, ninth hurricane, and sixth major hurricane of the
2018 Pacific hurricane season. A tropical depression formed southwest of
Mexico on September 1 and strengthened into a tropical storm a day
later. Olivia peaked as a Category 4 hurricane on September 7, with
winds of 130 mph (210 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 951 mbar
(28.08 inHg). On September 12 the storm weakened and made brief
landfalls on Maui and Lanai, with winds of 45 mph (70 km/h).
Torrential rainfall occurred on both Maui and Oahu, peaking at 12.93 in
(328 mm) in West Wailuaiki, Maui. Olivia felled trees on Maui, and some
homes and vehicles were swept away by floodwaters. (This article is
part of a featured topic: 2018 Pacific hurricane season.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/2018_Pacific_hurric…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1861:
American Civil War: The first major battle west of the
Mississippi River, the Battle of Wilson's Creek, was fought.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wilson%27s_Creek>
1897:
German chemist Felix Hoffmann discovered an improved way of
synthesizing acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) (package pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_aspirin>
1953:
First Indochina War: The French Union withdrew its forces from
Operation Camargue against the Việt Minh in central modern-day
Vietnam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Camargue>
2019:
Having already caused severe flooding in the Philippines,
Typhoon Lekima made landfall in Zhejiang, China, and went on to become
the costliest typhoon in Chinese history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Lekima>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sere:
1. (archaic or literary, poetic) Without moisture; dry.
2. (obsolete) Of fabrics: threadbare, worn out. [...]
3. (obsolete or Britain, dialectal) Individual, separate, set apart.
4. (obsolete or Britain, dialectal) Different; diverse.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sere>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Great leaps forward in history are often, in fact, giant leaps
back. The Reformation did initiate brutal sectarian warfare. The French
Revolution did degenerate into barbarous tyranny. Communist utopias —
allegedly the wave of an Elysian future — turned into murderous
nightmares. Modern neoliberalism has, for its part, created a global
capitalist machine that is seemingly beyond anyone’s control, fast
destroying the planet’s climate, wiping out vast tracts of life on
Earth while consigning millions of Americans to economic stagnation and
cultural despair. And at an even deeper level, the more we discover
about human evolution, the more illusory certain ideas of progress
become.
--Andrew Sullivan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrew_Sullivan>
The 2008 UAW-Dodge 400 was the third stock car race of the 2008 NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series. It was held on March 2 before a crowd of 153,000 in
Las Vegas, Nevada, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 267-lap race was won
by Carl Edwards of the Roush Fenway Racing team, for his ninth career
win in the series. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second and Edwards's
teammate Greg Biffle came in third. The race was stopped when Jeff
Gordon crashed on lap 262, strewing car parts into the path of other
drivers; after the restart, Edwards maintained the lead. There were
eleven cautions and 19 lead changes by nine different drivers during the
race. Ford took over the lead of the Manufacturers' Championship, five
points ahead of Dodge. The race attracted 12.1 million television
viewers. Edwards was later issued with a 100-point penalty after his car
was found to violate NASCAR regulations, dropping him from first to
seventh in the Drivers' Championship.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_UAW-Dodge_400>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1945:
World War II: The USAAF bomber Bockscar dropped a Fat Man
atomic bomb (replica pictured) on Nagasaki, Japan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man>
1971:
The Troubles: British forces began arresting and interning
suspected Irish republican militants in Northern Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Demetrius>
2001:
A suicide bomber attacked a pizza restaurant in Jerusalem,
killing 15 people and wounding 130 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sbarro_restaurant_suicide_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
merlion:
1. An imaginary creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish.
2. (Singapore, specifically) Often Merlion: such a creature which is one
of the national symbols of Singapore; a depiction of this creature.
[...]
3. (heraldry) A depiction of a bird similar to a house martin or swallow
with stylized feet; a martlet.
4. (rare) Alternative form of merlin (“a small falcon, Falco
columbarius”).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/merlion>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Knowing reality means constructing systems of transformations
that correspond, more or less adequately, to reality. They are more or
less isomorphic to transformations of reality. The transformational
structures of which knowledge consists are not copies of the
transformations in reality; they are simply possible isomorphic models
among which experience can enable us to choose. Knowledge, then, is a
system of transformations that become progressively adequate.
--Jean Piaget
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget>
Shoom was a weekly all-nighter dance music event held at nightclubs in
London, England, between December 1987 and early 1990. It is widely
credited with initiating the acid house movement in the UK. Shoom was
founded by Danny Rampling and managed by his wife Jenni. It began at a
300-capacity basement gym on Southwark Street in South London. By May
1988 its growing popularity necessitated a move to the larger Raw venue
on Tottenham Court Road, Central London, and a switch from Saturday to
Thursday nights. Later relocations were to The Park nightclub in
Kensington and Busby's venue on Charing Cross Road. The early nights
featured Chicago house and Detroit techno, mixed with contemporary pop
and post-punk. Its musical and visual culture evolved around the
classical hallucinogenic drug LSD and the psychoactive drug MDMA, the
latter commonly known in the UK as ecstasy or "E". Shoom closed shortly
after open drug use at the club began to attract police attention. By
this time, electronic music had crossed into the mainstream as the
heavier sounding rave style became popular.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoom>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1918:
The Battle of Amiens began in Amiens, France, marking the start
of the Allied Powers' Hundred Days Offensive through the German front
lines that ultimately led to the end of World War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Amiens_%281918%29>
1969:
At a zebra crossing in London, photographer Iain Macmillan took
the photo that was used for the cover of the Beatles' album Abbey Road.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Road>
2008:
A EuroCity train en route to Prague struck a part of a motorway
bridge that had fallen onto the track near Studénka station and
derailed, killing 8 people and injuring 64 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Stud%C3%A9nka_train_wreck>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sidle:
1. (transitive, intransitive, also figuratively) To (cause something to)
move sideways.
2. (transitive, intransitive, also figuratively) In the intransitive
sense often followed by up: to (cause something to) advance in a coy,
furtive, or unobtrusive manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sidle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Men have been laughed out of faults which a sermon could not
reform; nay, there are many little indecencies which are improper to be
mentioned in such solemn discourses. Now ridicule with contempt or ill-
nature, is indeed always irritating and offensive; but we may, by
testifying a just esteem for the good qualities of the person ridiculed,
and our concern for his interests, let him see that our ridicule of his
weakness flows from love to him, and then we may hope for a good effect.
This then is another necessary rule, "That along with our ridicule of
smaller faults we should always join evidences of good nature and
esteem."
--Francis Hutcheson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_Hutcheson_%28philosopher%29>
Henry IV (11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman
Emperor from 1084 to 1105. After his father's death in 1056, Henry was
placed under his mother's guardianship. Archbishop Anno II of Cologne
kidnapped him in 1062 and administered Germany until he came of age in
1065. Ignoring the ideas of the Gregorian Reform, Henry insisted on the
royal prerogative to appoint bishops in his German and Italian realms.
The Investiture Controversy culminated when Pope Gregory VII
excommunicated Henry in response to Henry's attempt to dethrone him.
Henry carried out his penitential Walk to Canossa in 1077 and Gregory
absolved him. Henry's German opponents ignored this absolution and
elected an anti-king. Most German and northern Italian bishops remained
loyal to Henry and elected the antipope, Clement III, who crowned Henry
emperor in Rome in 1084. His son, Henry V, forced him to abdicate on
31 December 1105.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_IV,_Holy_Roman_Emperor>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1794:
U.S. president George Washington invoked the Militia Acts of
1792 to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_Acts_of_1792>
1946:
The Soviet Union informed Turkey that the way in which the
latter was handling the Turkish Straits no longer represented the
security interests of its fellow Black Sea nations, escalating the
Turkish Straits crisis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Straits_crisis>
2008:
Fighting between the Georgian and South Ossetian separatist
forces escalated to the six-day Russo-Georgian War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Georgian_War>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
calabash:
1. A tree (known as the calabash tree; Crescentia cujete) native to
Central and South America, the West Indies, and southern Florida,
bearing large, round fruit used to make containers (sense 3); the fruit
of this tree.
2. The bottle gourd (calabash vine, Lagenaria siceraria), a vine
believed to have originated in Africa, which is grown for its fruit that
are used as a vegetable and to make containers (sense 3); the fruit of
this plant.
3. A container made from the mature, dried shell of the fruit of one of
the above plants; also, a similarly shaped container made from some
other material.
4. A calabash and its contents; as much as fills such a container.
5. (music) A musical instrument, most commonly a drum or rattle, made
from a calabash fruit.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/calabash>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The real struggle is not between the right and the left —
that's where most people assume — but it's between the party of the
thoughtful and the party of the jerks. And no side of the political
spectrum has a monopoly on either of those qualities.
--Jimmy Wales
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales>
South Park: The Stick of Truth is a 2014 role-playing video game
developed by Obsidian Entertainment in collaboration with South Park
Digital Studios, and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows,
PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Based on the American adult animated
television series South Park, the game features whimsical fantasy role-
playing. As the New Kid, the player can freely explore the town of South
Park with a supporting party of characters, fighting aliens, Nazi
zombies, and gnomes. The visuals replicate the aesthetic of the
television series. South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone (both
pictured) wrote the game's script, consulted on the design and voiced
many of the characters, as in the television program. Reviewers praised
the comedic script and authentic visual style, but some faulted the game
over technical issues and a lack of challenging combat. A sequel, South
Park: The Fractured but Whole, was released in 2017.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park:_The_Stick_of_Truth>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1890:
At Auburn Prison in the U.S. state of New York, William Kemmler
became the first person to be executed by electric chair.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_chair>
1965:
U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act
into law, outlawing literacy tests and other discriminatory voting
practices that had been responsible for the widespread disfranchisement
of African Americans.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965>
1991:
British computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee first posted files
describing his ideas for a system of interlinked, hypertext documents
accessible via the Internet, to be called a "World Wide Web".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
planning permission:
(Britain, construction, law) Legal permission granted by a government
authority to construct on one's land, or to change the use of the land.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/planning_permission>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me —
That ever with a frolic welcome took The thunder and the sunshine, and
opposed Free hearts, free foreheads — you and I are old; Old age
hath yet his honor and his toil. Death closes all; but something ere
the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men
that strove with gods.
--Alfred, Lord Tennyson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alfred,_Lord_Tennyson>
The York County, Maine, Tercentenary half dollar is a fifty-cent piece
minted in 1936 as a commemorative coin to commemorate the 300th
anniversary of the founding of York County, the southernmost county in
Maine and the first to be organized. The obverse shows Brown's Garrison,
a fort around which York County developed, while the reverse depicts the
county's arms. A commemorative coin craze in 1936 saw some coins
authorized by the United States Congress that were of mainly local
significance; the York County issue was one of these, passing Congress
without opposition in the first half of 1936. Maine artist Walter H.
Rich designed the issue; his work has garnered mixed praise and dislike
from numismatic authors. The Philadelphia Mint struck 25,000 for public
sale. Less than 19,000 sold by 1937, more than half to Mainers; the rest
were sold in the 1950s. As of 2021, the York County half dollar catalogs
for around $200, depending on condition.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_County,_Maine,_Tercentenary_half_dollar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1600:
Scottish nobleman John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie, was killed
during what was most likely a failed attempt to kidnap King James VI.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ruthven,_3rd_Earl_of_Gowrie>
1888:
Bertha Benz made the first long-distance automobile trip,
driving 106 km (66 mi) from Mannheim to Pforzheim, Germany, in a Benz
Patent-Motorwagen (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_Benz>
1981:
U.S. president Ronald Reagan fired the 11,345 striking members
of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization en masse.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organiza…>
2011:
NASA launched the Juno probe to Jupiter as part of the New
Frontiers program.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_%28spacecraft%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
side-eye:
(transitive) To look at out of the corner of one's eye, particularly
with animosity, or in a judgmental or suspicious manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/side-eye>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I think we're going to the moon because it's in the nature of the
human being to face challenges. It's by the nature of his deep inner
soul ... we're required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.
--Neil Armstrong
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong>
Cai Lun (b. c. 50 – c. 62 CE; d. 121) was a Chinese eunuch court
official traditionally regarded as the inventor of paper and the modern
papermaking process, as he created paper in its modern form. Born in
modern-day Leiyang, Cai served as chamberlain for Emperor Ming, and as
imperial messenger for Emperor Zhang. To assist Lady Dou in securing her
adopted son as designated heir, he interrogated Consort Song, who then
killed herself. After Emperor He's ascension in 88 CE, Dou rewarded Cai
with high office, where he remained despite He's purge of the Dou family
in 92 CE. In 105 CE, Cai greatly improved the papermaking process with
tree bark, hemp waste, old rags, and fishnets. After Lady Deng, the
empress dowager, died in 121 CE, Cai was ordered to the Ministry of
Justice because of his involvement in Song's death. Expecting execution,
he killed himself instead. Cai's papermaking efforts are considered
enormously impactful on human history. He is deified as the god of
papermaking, and appears in Chinese folklore.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cai_Lun>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1830:
American surveyor James Thompson produced the first plat of
Chicago on the order of the Illinois and Michigan Canal Commissioners.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Thompson_%28surveyor%29>
1991:
An explosion on the Greek cruise ship MTS Oceanos ruptured its
hull, causing it to sink off the east coast of South Africa, with all
571 people on board rescued.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTS_Oceanos>
2006:
Sri Lankan Civil War: Seventeen employees of the French
nongovernmental organization ACF International were massacred in Muttur.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Trincomalee_massacre_of_NGO_workers>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Spidey-sense:
(humorous) An intuitive feeling, usually of something being dangerous or
risky; (more generally) instinct, intuition.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Spidey-sense>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that
greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never
been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path
for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or
seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the
risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but
more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up
the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
--Barack Obama
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>
The Moorgate tube crash occurred on 28 February 1975 on the London
Underground's Northern City Line; 43 people died and 74 were injured
after a train failed to stop at the line's southern terminus, Moorgate
station, and crashed into its end wall. It is the worst peacetime
accident on the London Underground. The crash forced the first carriage
into the roof of the tunnel; the second carriage collapsed at the front
as it collided with the first, and the third rode over the rear of the
second. The brakes were not applied and the dead man's handle was still
depressed when the train crashed. The inquiry by the Department of the
Environment found no fault with the train and concluded that the
accident was caused by Leslie Newson, the 56-year-old driver. The post-
mortem on Newson showed no medical reason to explain the crash, and a
cause has never been established. After the crash, London Underground
introduced a new safety system that automatically stops a train that is
travelling too fast.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorgate_tube_crash>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1903:
Macedonian rebels in Kruševo proclaimed a republic, which
existed for ten days before Ottoman forces destroyed the town.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kru%C5%A1evo_Republic>
1913:
An agricultural workers' strike in Wheatland degenerated into a
riot, becoming one of the first major farm labor confrontations in
California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatland_hop_riot>
1959:
Portuguese state police opened fire on striking dock workers in
Bissau, Portuguese Guinea, killing at least 25 people in a step that led
to the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence four years later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pidjiguiti_massacre>
2005:
Mauritanian president Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya was
overthrown in a military coup while he attended the funeral of King Fahd
of Saudi Arabia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Mauritanian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
kite:
1. (transitive) To cause (something) to move upwards rapidly like a toy
kite; also (chiefly US, figuratively) to cause (something, such as
costs) to increase rapidly.
2. (transitive, slang) To tamper with a document or record by increasing
the quantity of something beyond its proper amount so that the
difference may be unlawfully retained; in particular, to alter a medical
prescription for this purpose by increasing the number of pills or other
items.
3. (transitive, video games) To keep ahead of (an enemy) in order to
attack repeatedly from a distance, without exposing oneself to danger.
4. (transitive, intransitive) To (cause to) glide in the manner of a
kite (“bird”).
5. (transitive, intransitive, banking, slang) To write or present (a
cheque) on an account with insufficient funds, either to defraud or
expecting that funds will become available by the time the cheque
clears.
6. (transitive, intransitive, US, slang, by extension) To steal.
7. (transitive, intransitive, rare) To manipulate like a toy kite; also,
usually preceded by an inflection of go: to fly a toy kite.
8. (intransitive) To travel by kite, as when kitesurfing.
9. (intransitive, figuratively) To move rapidly; to rush.
10. (intransitive, engineering, nautical) To deflect sideways in the
water.
11. (intransitive, US, prison slang) To pass a (usually concealed)
letter or oral message, especially illegally into, within, or out of a
prison.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kite>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You can make life a lot harder for yourself by focusing on
negative things in your path or making excuses for why things didn't go
your way. Or, you can refuse to take things personally, let them go,
learn from them, and become the best version of yourself. It's a choice.
It's actually your choice.
--Tom Brady
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Brady>
The Sirens and Ulysses is a very large oil painting by the English
artist William Etty, first exhibited in 1837. It depicts the scene from
Homer's Odyssey in which Ulysses (Odysseus) resists the bewitching song
of the Sirens by having his ship's crew tie him up, while they are
ordered to block their own ears to prevent themselves from hearing the
song. Traditionally Sirens had been depicted as human–animal chimeras,
but Etty portrayed them as naked young women on an island strewn with
decaying corpses. The painting divided opinion, with some critics
greatly admiring it while others derided it as tasteless and unpleasant.
Following the 1857 Art Treasures Exhibition, it was removed from display
for about 150 years. In 2010 the painting went on permanent display in
the Manchester Art Gallery.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sirens_and_Ulysses>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1790:
The first United States census was conducted, with the nation's
residential population enumerated to be 3,929,214.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1790_United_States_census>
1897:
The Siege of Malakand ended when a relief column was able to
reach the British garrison in the Malakand region of colonial India's
North West Frontier Province.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Malakand>
1920:
Nepalese author Krishna Lal Adhikari was sentenced to nine
years in prison for publishing a book about the cultivation of corn.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makaiko_Kheti>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Raj:
1. Short for British Raj (“the period of colonial rule of the Indian
subcontinent by the British Empire between 1858 and 1947”). during the
Raj
2. (proscribed) The whole period of British influence or rule in the
Indian subcontinent from the 1600s to 1947.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Raj>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is as fatal as it is cowardly to blink facts because they are
not to our taste.
--John Tyndall
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Tyndall>