Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo
program, with, on December 11, the most recent crewed lunar landing.
Commander Gene Cernan (pictured) and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt
walked on the Moon, while Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans orbited
above. Under pressure to send a scientist to the Moon, NASA replaced Joe
Engle with Schmitt, who became the only professional geologist to land
on the Moon. Mission planners sought a site shaped by volcanism, and
selected Taurus–Littrow, where apparently-volcanic features had been
seen. The mission lifted off early on December 7 after the only launch-
pad delay in the Apollo program. Cernan and Schmitt landed and completed
three moonwalks, taking lunar samples and deploying scientific
instruments. Orange soil discovered at Shorty crater proved to be
volcanic in origin from early in the Moon's history. The command module,
which also contained a biological experiment with five mice, returned to
Earth on December 19.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1640:
A crowd of 1,500 people presented the Root and Branch petition
to the Long Parliament, calling for abolishing the episcopacy of the
Church of England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_and_Branch_petition>
1907:
The original Parliament House in Wellington, New Zealand, was
destroyed by fire (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_House,_Wellington>
1925:
Pope Pius XI promulgated the encyclical Quas primas,
establishing the Feast of Christ the King.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quas_primas>
1972:
Apollo 17, the last Apollo mission, landed on the Moon.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
kaleidoscope:
1. An instrument consisting of a tube containing mirrors and loose,
colourful beads or other objects; when the tube is looked into and
rotated, a succession of symmetrical designs can be seen.
2. (figuratively) A constantly changing series of colours or other
things.
3. (intransitive) To move in shifting (and often attractive or
colourful) patterns.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kaleidoscope>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Can a man who's warm understand one who's freezing?
--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn>
The Low Memorial Library is a building at the center of Columbia
University's Morningside Heights campus in Manhattan, New York City,
United States. Designed by Charles Follen McKim of the firm McKim, Mead
& White, the building was constructed between 1895 and 1897 as the
central library of Columbia's library system. Columbia University
president Seth Low funded the building and named it in memory of his
father, Abiel Abbot Low. Its facade and interior are New York City
designated landmarks, and the building is also a National Historic
Landmark. Low is shaped like a Greek cross and is four stories tall,
excluding a ground-level basement. The first floor contains an
ambulatory around an octagonal rotunda. The stacks had space for
1.5 million volumes. The building was poorly suited for library use,
but its central location made it a focal point of the university's
campus. Following the completion of the much larger Butler Library in
1934, Low was converted to administrative offices.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Memorial_Library>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1768:
The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica was released
in Edinburgh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica>
1907:
During the Brown Dog affair, protesters marched through London
and clashed with police officers in Trafalgar Square over the existence
of a memorial for animals that had been vivisected.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Dog_affair>
1941:
Second World War: The Royal Navy capital ships HMS Prince of
Wales and HMS Repulse were sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo
bombers east of Malaya.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_Prince_of_Wales_and_Repulse>
1989:
At the first open pro-democracy demonstration in Mongolia,
journalist Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announced the formation of the
Mongolian Democratic Union, which would be instrumental in ending
communist rule four months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsakhiagiin_Elbegdorj>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
non-refoulement:
(international law) The principle that a person (particularly a refugee)
should not be returned to an area (chiefly their country of origin)
where they would face mistreatment.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/non-refoulement>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
LOVE is anterior to life, Posterior to death, Initial of
creation, and The exponent of breath.
--Emily Dickinson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson>
Nadezhda Alliluyeva (1901–1932), also known as Nadya or Nadia, was the
second wife of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. She was born in Baku to a
friend of Stalin, a fellow revolutionary, and was raised in Saint
Petersburg. Alliluyeva was exposed to revolutionary activity throughout
her youth. Having known Stalin from a young age, she married him when
she was 18, and they had two children. Alliluyeva worked as a secretary
for Bolshevik leaders, including Vladimir Lenin and Stalin, and also as
an assistant in the Department of Agitation and Propaganda, before
enrolling at the Industrial Academy in Moscow to study synthetic fibres
and become an engineer. She had health issues, which had an adverse
impact on her relationship with Stalin. She also suspected he was
unfaithful, which led to frequent arguments with him. On several
occasions, Alliluyeva reportedly contemplated leaving Stalin. After an
argument she shot herself early in the morning of 9 November 1932.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadezhda_Alliluyeva>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1892:
The English association football club Newcastle United was
founded by the merger of Newcastle East End and West End.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcastle_United_F.C.>
1917:
First World War: Hussein al-Husayni, the Ottoman mayor of
Jerusalem, surrendered the city to British forces (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jerusalem>
2016:
Park Geun-hye, the president of South Korea, was impeached,
marking the culmination of the country's political scandal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Park_Geun-hye>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sophisticate:
1. (transitive)
2. To make (something) less innocent or natural; to artificialize.
3. To make (something) more sophisticated (“complex, developed, or
refined”); to develop, to refine.
4. (also reflexive) To make (oneself or someone) more sophisticated
(“experienced in the ways of the world, that is, cosmopolitan or
worldly-wise”); to cosmopolitanize.
5. (also figuratively) To alter and make impure (something) by mixing it
with some foreign or inferior substance, especially with an intention to
deceive; to adulterate; (generally) to corrupt or deceive (someone,
their thinking, etc.).
6. To change the meaning of (something) in a deceptive or misleading
way.
7. (archaic) To apply an artificial technique to (something).
8. (intransitive) To practise sophistry (“the (deliberate) making of
arguments that seem plausible but are fallacious or misleading”). [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sophisticate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Ideas, and even the detection of errors, require more than care
and caution.
--Ernest Gellner
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Gellner>
Allied logistics in the Southern France campaign played a key role in
the success of Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France
during World War II. The US Seventh Army landed on the French Riviera
on 15 August 1944. Its primary objective was to capture the ports of
Marseille and Toulon, then drive northward up the Rhône valley. Both
ports were captured, but badly damaged, so considerable effort was
required to bring them into service. Priority was given to ammunition
during combat loading, anticipating stubborn German resistance. When
this proved to not be the case, ammunition had to be moved out of the
way to reach other materiel, which slowed unloading. To facilitate the
advance, engineers repaired bridges, rehabilitated railways and laid
pipelines. The Seventh Army continued to draw its supplies from the
North African Theater of Operations until the Southern Line of
Communications was merged with the Communications Zone of the European
Theater of Operations on 20 November.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_logistics_in_the_Southern_France_campa…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1854:
Pope Pius IX promulgated the apostolic constitution
Ineffabilis Deus, proclaiming the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate
Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was conceived free of
original sin.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ineffabilis_Deus>
1880:
At an assembly of 10,000 Boers, Paul Kruger announced the
fulfilment of the decision to restore the government and volksraad of
the South African Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kruger>
1941:
The Holocaust: The Chełmno extermination camp in occupied
Poland, the first such Nazi camp to kill Jews, began operations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che%C5%82mno_extermination_camp>
1991:
Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian leaders signed the Belovezh
Accords, agreeing to dissolve the Soviet Union and establish the
Commonwealth of Independent States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
publican:
1. (chiefly Britain) The landlord (manager or owner) of a public house
(“a bar or tavern, often also selling food and sometimes lodging; a
pub”).
2. (Australia, New Zealand, by extension) The manager or owner of a
hotel.
3. (Ancient Rome, historical) A tax collector, especially one working in
Judea and Galilee during New Testament times (1st century C.E.) who was
generally regarded as sinful for extorting more tax than was due, and as
a traitor for serving the Roman Empire.
4. (by extension, archaic) Any person who collects customs duties,
taxes, tolls, or other forms of public revenue.
5. (figuratively, archaic)
6. One regarded as extorting money from others by charging high prices.
7. (Christianity) A person excommunicated from the church; an
excommunicant or excommunicate; also, a person who does not follow a
Christian religion; a heathen, a pagan.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/publican>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I want to say thank you. And I want to say thank you to my
mother, who is here tonight. You’ll see her in a little while. But she
grew up in the 1950s, in Waycross, Georgia, picking somebody else’s
cotton and somebody else’s tobacco. But tonight she helped pick her
youngest son to be a United States senator.
--Raphael Warnock
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Raphael_Warnock>
During his three Olympic seasons, Yuzuru Hanyu (pictured), a Japanese
figure skater, won two gold medals in the men's singles event, one each
in 2014 and 2018. He also placed fourth in 2022. In 2014, at the age of
19, he became the first Asian men's singles skater to win an Olympic
gold medal, and the youngest male skater to win the title since American
Dick Button did in 1948. In 2018, Hanyu became the first male singles
skater in 66 years to win gold medals in consecutive Winter Olympics
since Button, who also won in 1952. Hanyu received the People's Honour
Award from the Prime Minister of Japan as well as two Medals of Honor
with Purple Ribbon. He also received the Kikuchi Kan Prize for his
accomplishments, including his back-to-back Olympic titles. Two
monuments in memory of his Olympic wins were erected at the
International Center Station in Sendai, his hometown. He was also listed
in ESPN's World Fame 100 and The Dominant 20, as well as Forbes 30
Under 30 Asia for his success in 2018.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuzuru_Hanyu_Olympic_seasons>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
American Civil War: The Battle of Prairie Grove ended a
Confederate attempt to regain control of northwestern Arkansas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Prairie_Grove>
1936:
Australian cricketer Jack Fingleton became the first player to
score centuries in four consecutive Test innings.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Fingleton>
1975:
The Indonesian military invaded East Timor under the pretext of
anti-colonialism, beginning an occupation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_occupation_of_East_Timor>
1995:
The Galileo spacecraft (illustration shown) arrived at Jupiter,
a little more than six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle
Atlantis during Mission STS-34.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_%28spacecraft%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
musty:
1. Affected by dampness or mould; damp, mildewed, mouldy.
2. Having an odour or taste of mould; also (generally), having a stale
or unfresh odour or taste.
3. Characteristic of or relating to mould or mouldiness.
4. (figuratively)
5. Of attitudes, ideas, writing, or other abstract things: no longer
fresh or interesting; outdated, stale.
6. Of a person: boring and unadventurous; also, old-fashioned, stuck in
the past.
7. (archaic except Northern England (northwest)) Bad-tempered, grumpy,
irritable. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/musty>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Jingoism, fear, racism, religious fundamentalism: these are the
ways of appealing to people if you’re trying to organize a mass base
of support for policies that are really intended to crush them.
--Noam Chomsky
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky>
Bill Denny (6 December 1872 – 2 May 1946) was a South Australian
journalist, lawyer, Labor politician and decorated soldier who held a
seat in the South Australian House of Assembly for 32 years. He was
elected in 1900, re-elected in 1902, defeated in 1905, re-elected in
1906 and then retained his seat until defeated in 1933. Denny was the
Attorney-General of South Australia in the Labor government of
1910–1912 led by John Verran. In August 1915, Denny enlisted in the
First Australian Imperial Force to serve in World War I, initially as a
trooper in the 9th Light Horse Regiment. After being commissioned in
1916, he served in the artillery on the Western Front. He was awarded
the Military Cross for his actions when he was wounded while leading a
convoy into forward areas near Ypres in September 1917. He was again
Attorney-General in the governments led by John Gunn, Lionel Hill and
Robert Richards. When Denny died in 1946 aged 73, he was accorded a
state funeral.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Denny>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1803:
Haitian Revolution: Nearly all the final French ships in Haiti
were captured by the Royal Navy when they attempted to evade the
blockade of Saint-Domingue.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockade_of_Saint-Domingue>
1907:
A mine explosion in Monongah, West Virginia, killed 362 people
and led to the establishment of the United States Bureau of Mines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monongah_mining_disaster>
1941:
The British Secret Intelligence Service established a facility
known as Camp X in Ontario, Canada, to train covert agents in
clandestine operations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_X>
2015:
In the Venezuelan parliamentary election, the ruling United
Socialist Party lost control of the National Assembly for the first time
in 16 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Venezuelan_parliamentary_election>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
alexipyretic:
1. (pharmacology, obsolete) A medicine which reduces fever.
2. (pharmacology, obsolete, rare) Having the effect of reducing fever.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/alexipyretic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
He must be a man of little faith, who would fear to subject his
own religion to the same critical tests to which the historian subjects
all other religions. We need not surely crave a tender or merciful
treatment for that faith which we hold to be the only true one. We
should rather challenge it for the severest tests and trials, as the
sailor would for the good ship to which he trusts his own life, and the
lives of those who are dear to him. In the Science of Religion, we can
decline no comparisons, nor claim any immunities for Christianity, as
little as the missionary can, when wrestling with the subtle Brahmin, or
the fanatical Mussulman, or the plain speaking Zulu.
--Max Müller
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_M%C3%BCller>
The 2006 Securitas depot robbery in Tonbridge, Kent, was the largest
ever cash heist in the UK. Seven criminals stole almost £53 million in
used and unused Bank of England sterling banknotes. After months of
preparation, the gang abducted the manager and his family, then tricked
their way inside the building (pictured) and tied up fourteen workers at
gunpoint. Kent Police recovered over £19 million; by 2007, 36 people
had been arrested in relation to the crime. At trial in London, five
people were convicted and received long sentences, including the inside
man, Emir Hysenaj. Lee Murray, the alleged mastermind of the heist, had
fled to Morocco with his friend and accomplice Paul Allen. Murray
successfully fought extradition to the UK and was eventually imprisoned
for the robbery there instead. Allen was extradited and after a second
trial in 2008 was jailed. A decade later, £32 million had not been
recovered, and several suspects were still on the run.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securitas_depot_robbery>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1775:
American Revolutionary War: Continental Army colonel Henry Knox
arrived at Fort Ticonderoga in New York to arrange the transport of
60 tons of artillery (depicted) to support the siege of Boston.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_train_of_artillery>
1936:
The 1936 Soviet constitution, also known as the "Stalin
constitution", was adopted.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Constitution_of_the_Soviet_Union>
1995:
Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 56 crashed shortly after takeoff
from Nakhchivan Airport, killing 52 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan_Airlines_Flight_56>
2005:
The Civil Partnership Act came into force, granting civil
partnerships in the United Kingdom rights and responsibilities identical
to civil marriage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Partnership_Act_2004>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
scarecrow:
1. An effigy, typically made of straw and dressed in old clothes, fixed
to a pole in a field to deter birds from eating crops or seeds planted
there.
2. (by extension, derogatory) A person regarded as resembling a
scarecrow (sense 1) in some way; especially, a tall, thin, awkward
person; or a person wearing ragged and tattered clothes.
3. (dated) Synonym of crow scarer (“a farmhand employed to scare birds
from the fields”)
4. (figuratively)
5. Anything that appears terrifying but presents no danger; a paper
tiger.
6. (military, World War II, historical) Military equipment or tactics
used to scare and deter rather than cause actual damage.
7. (Britain, dialectal, obsolete)
8. The black tern (Chlidonias niger).
9. The hooded crow (Corvus cornix).
10. To cause (a person, their body, etc.) to look awkward and stiff,
like a scarecrow (noun sense 1).
11. To splay (one's arms) away from the body, like the arms of a
scarecrow.
12. To frighten or terrify (someone), as if using a scarecrow.
13. (archaic) To spoil the appearance of (something, such as the
landscape or a view), as scarecrows may be regarded as doing.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scarecrow>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In general, scientific progress calls for no more than the
absorption and elaboration of new ideas — and this is a call most
scientists are happy to heed.
--Werner Heisenberg
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Werner_Heisenberg>
Lee Smith (born December 4, 1957) is an American former pitcher in
professional baseball who played 18 years in Major League Baseball (MLB)
for eight teams. A native of Jamestown, Louisiana, Smith was selected by
the Chicago Cubs in the 1975 MLB draft. In 1991, he set a National
League (NL) record with 47 saves for the St. Louis Cardinals, and was
runner-up for the league's Cy Young Award; it was the second of three
times Smith led the NL in saves, and he later led the American League in
saves once. At his retirement, he held the major league record for
career games finished (802) and was third in games pitched (1,022). He
still holds the record for career saves for the Cubs (180) and held the
same record for the Cardinals (160) until 2006. After his playing
career, Smith worked as a pitching instructor in Minor League Baseball
for the San Francisco Giants. He served as the pitching coach for the
South Africa national baseball team in the World Baseball Classics of
2006 and 2009.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Smith_%28baseball%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1829:
Sati, the Hindu funeral custom of a widow's self-immolation on
her husband's pyre, was prohibited by Lord William Bentinck in parts of
British India after years of campaigning by Ram Mohan Roy (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_%28practice%29>
1909:
The Montreal Canadiens, the oldest professional ice hockey club
in the world, were founded as a charter member of the National Hockey
Association.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Montreal_Canadiens>
1928:
Cosmo Gordon Lang was enthroned as the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the first bachelor to be appointed in 150 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmo_Gordon_Lang>
1971:
The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force, an Ulster-loyalist
paramilitary group, detonated a bomb at a Catholic-owned pub in Belfast,
Northern Ireland, killing 15 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGurk%27s_Bar_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
muddy:
1. Covered or splashed with, or full of, mud (“wet soil”).
2. Of water or some other liquid: containing mud or (by extension) other
sediment in suspension; cloudy, turbid.
3. Of or relating to mud; also, having the characteristics of mud,
especially in colour or taste.
4. (euphemistic) Soiled with feces.
5. (archaic) Of an animal or plant: growing or living in mud.
6. (figuratively)
7. Dirty, filthy.
8. Not clear.
9. Of a colour: not bright: dirty, dull.
10. Of an image: blurry or dim.
11. Of light: cloudy, opaque.
12. Of sound (especially during performance, recording, or playback):
indistinct, muffled.
13. Of speech, thinking, or writing: ambiguous or vague; or confused,
incoherent, or mixed-up; also, poorly expressed.
14. (chiefly literary, poetic) Of the air: not fresh; impure, polluted.
15. Originally, morally or religiously wrong; corrupt, sinful; now,
morally or legally dubious; shady, sketchy.
16. (archaic) Of a person or their facial expression: angry, sad, or
sulky.
17. (obsolete) Slightly drunk; tipsy. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/muddy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a
single object, can accomplish something. The strongest, by dispensing
his over many, may fail to accomplish anything. The drop, by continually
falling, bores its passage through the hardest rock. The hasty torrent
rushes over it with hideous uproar, and leaves no trace behind.
--Thomas Carlyle
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle>
Margarita with a Straw is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language drama film
directed by Shonali Bose. It stars Kalki Koechlin (pictured) as an
Indian teenager with cerebral palsy who relocates to America for her
undergraduate education and comes of age following her complex
relationship with a blind girl, played by Sayani Gupta. Revathi, Kuljeet
Singh, and William Moseley play supporting roles. Produced by Bose in
partnership with Viacom18 Motion Pictures, Margarita with a Straw was
co-written by Bose and Nilesh Maniyar. The film deals with the concepts
of sexuality, inclusion, self-love, and self-acceptance. Bose conceived
the idea for the film in January 2011, during a conversation with
Malini Chib—her cousin and a disability rights activist—about the
latter's desire to have a normal sex life. After winning Sundance
Institute's Mahindra Global Filmmaker Award for the draft, she modified
the script to reflect her own perspective, incorporating several
personal experiences into the narrative.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarita_with_a_Straw>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1910:
Freda Du Faur became the first woman to climb Aoraki / Mount
Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freda_Du_Faur>
1968:
American singer Elvis Presley's first television special and
first live performance in seven years, Singer Presents ... Elvis, was
broadcast by NBC.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_%281968_TV_program%29>
1976:
Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley survived an assassination
attempt by seven gunmen in Kingston.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Marley>
1994:
Sony released the PlayStation, the first computer entertainment
platform to ship 100 million units.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_%28console%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
built different:
(originally African-American Vernacular, idiomatic, slang) Able to do
things which others cannot; extremely talented or unusual. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/built_different>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You shall judge of a man by his foes as well as by his friends.
--Lord Jim
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lord_Jim>
Tropical Storm Zelda was the last tropical cyclone of the 1991 Pacific
typhoon season. The area of low pressure that became Zelda formed near
the International Date Line, and became a tropical depression on
November 27, 1991. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported
that it had reached tropical storm intensity near the Marshall Islands
on November 28. According to the JTWC, the storm strengthened to 65
knots (120 km/h; 75 mph), equivalent to a Category 1 on the
Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale, on November 29, and reached a
peak of 80 kn (150 km/h; 90 mph). According to the Japan
Meteorological Agency, it had a barometric pressure of 975 hectopascals
(28.8 inHg). Zelda weakened into a tropical storm on December 2, and
then a tropical depression two days later. It caused significant damage
in the Marshall Islands, but no deaths or injuries were reported. Later
in December, U.S. president George H. W. Bush declared the storm to be
a major disaster, allowing the FEMA to assist.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Zelda_%281991%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1852:
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte established the Second French Empire,
declaring himself Emperor of the French as Napoleon III.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III>
1942:
Manhattan Project scientists led by Enrico Fermi initiated the
first self-sustaining chain reaction in the experimental nuclear reactor
Chicago Pile-1.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Pile-1>
1989:
The Malayan Communist Party and the Malaysian government signed
a peace accord to end a 21-year communist insurgency.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_insurgency_in_Malaysia_%281968%E2%8…>
2001:
Less than two months after disclosing accounting violations,
the Texas-based energy firm Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy,
evaporating nearly $11 billion in shareholder wealth.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron_scandal>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
baby duck syndrome:
(computing, humorous) The tendency of computer users to think the system
(software or usage paradigm) they originally started using is better
than others.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/baby_duck_syndrome>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Can you hear me calling Out your name? You know that I'm
falling And I don't know what to say I'll speak a little louder I'll
even shout You know that I'm proud And I can't get the words out Oh,
I I want to be with you everywhere.
--Christine McVie
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christine_McVie>