SMS Friedrich Carl was an armored cruiser of the Imperial German Navy.
A member of the Prinz Adalbert class, the ship was intended to act as a
scout for the fleet's battleships and to patrol the German colonial
empire. The Prinz Adalbert class was based on the earlier armored
cruiser Prinz Heinrich, but with improved armament and armor. Built in
the early 1900s, Friedrich Carl served in the German fleet from 1904 to
1909, which included a period as flagship of the reconnaissance squadron
and a cruise to the Mediterranean Sea. The ship was then used as a
torpedo test vessel from 1909 until the start of World War I in
July 1914. Friedrich Carl was assigned to the Cruiser Division of the
Baltic Sea, serving as its flagship. On 17 November 1914, the ship
struck a Russian naval mine off Memel and sank, though only seven or
eight men were killed in the sinking. (This article is part of a
featured topic: Armored cruisers of Germany.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Armored_cruisers_of…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1894:
H. H. Holmes, one of the first modern serial killers, was
arrested in Boston after killing at least nine people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes>
1968:
NBC controversially cut away from an American football game
between the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets to broadcast Heidi,
causing viewers in the Eastern United States to miss the game's dramatic
ending.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game>
1989:
Walt Disney Pictures released The Little Mermaid to theatres,
beginning the Disney Renaissance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Mermaid_%281989_film%29>
2009:
Administrators at the University of East Anglia's Climatic
Research Unit discovered that their servers had been hacked, and
thousands of emails and files on climate change had been stolen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
stagflation:
(economics) Prolonged high inflation accompanied by stagnant growth,
often with recession and high unemployment.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stagflation>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Many people dream of success. To me success can only be achieved
through repeated failure and introspection. In fact, success represents
the 1% of your work which results only from the 99% that is called
failure.
--Soichiro Honda
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Soichiro_Honda>
Atrociraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid dinosaur that lived during the
Late Cretaceous in what is now Alberta, Canada. The first specimen was
discovered in 1995 by the fossil collector Wayne Marshall in the
Horseshoe Canyon Formation. In 2004, this became the holotype of the new
genus and species Atrociraptor marshalli; the generic name is Latin for
'savage robber'. It is estimated to have measured 1.8 to 2 m (5.9 to
6.6 ft) in length and weighed 15 kg (33 lb). It would have had a
large sickle-claw on the second toe and pennaceous feathers.
Atrociraptor has a deeper face and more strongly backwards-inclined
teeth than its contemporary relatives. It is thought to have been
specialised for attacking larger prey due to its deep snout. Studies
suggest dromaeosaurids used their sickle-claws to restrain prey while
dismembering them with the mouth. Atrociraptor dates from around 72.2 to
71.5 million years ago; it survived for more than 2 million years and
across a wide geographic area.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrociraptor>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1532:
Spanish conquest of Peru: Conquistador Francisco Pizarro
orchestrated a surprise attack in Cajamarca, capturing the Inca emperor,
Atahualpa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cajamarca>
1914:
World War I: Austro-Hungarian forces launched an assault
against Serbian defensive positions at the Kolubara river, beginning the
Battle of Kolubara.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kolubara>
1944:
World War II: Operation Queen commenced with one of the
heaviest Allied tactical bombings of the war, attacking German targets
in the Rur valley.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Queen>
1959:
The Sound of Music, a musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein based
on The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, opened on Broadway at the
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Music>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
twinge:
1. (intransitive)
2. To have a sudden, pinching or sharp pain in a specific part of the
body, like a twitch.
3. (obsolete except UK, dialectal) To pull and twist.
4. (transitive, obsolete)
5. (except UK, dialectal) To pull and twist (someone or something); to
pinch, to tweak, to twitch, to wring.
6. To affect or torment (someone, their mind, or part of their body)
with one or more sudden, pinching or sharp pains; to irritate.
7. (figurative) To prick or stimulate (one's conscience).
8. A sudden, pinching or sharp pain in a specific part of the body,
especially one lasting for a short time.
9. (rare, also figurative) A turn, a twist.
10. (figurative)
11. A sudden, sharp feeling of an emotional or mental nature, as of
guilt or sadness; a pang, a paroxysm, a throe; also, a prick of the
conscience.
12. A sudden, sharp occurrence of something; a nip.
13. (UK, dialectal) Synonym of earwig (“insect of the order Dermaptera”)
14. (obsolete) An act of pulling and twisting; a pinch, a tweak, a
twitch.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/twinge>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Authoritarian, paralyzing, circular, occasionally elliptical,
stock phrases, also jocularly referred to as nuggets of wisdom, are
malignant plague, one of the very worst ever to ravage the earth. We say
to the confused, Know thyself, as if knowing yourself was not the fifth
and most difficult of human arithmetical operations, we say to the
apathetic, Where there’s a will, there’s a way, as if the brute
realities of the world did not amuse themselves each day by turning that
phrase on its head, we say to the indecisive, Begin at the beginning, as
if that beginning were the clearly visible point of a loosely wound
thread and that all we had to do was to keep pulling until we reached
the other end, and as if, between the former and the latter, we had held
in our hands a smooth, continuous thread with no knots to untie, no
snarled to untangle, a complete impossibility in the life of a skien, or
indeed, if we may be permitted on more stock phrase, in the skien of
life. … These are the delusions of the pure and unprepared, the
beginning is never the clear, precise end of a thread, the beginning is
a long, painfully slow process that requires time and patience in order
to find out in which direction it is heading, a process that feels its
way along the path ahead like a blind man, the beginning is just the
beginning, what came before is nigh on worthless.
--José Saramago
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago>
The Walden–Wallkill Rail Trail, also known as the Jesse McHugh Rail
Trail, is a 3.22-mile (5.18 km) rail trail between the village of Walden
and the hamlet of Wallkill. The two communities are located in Orange
County and Ulster County, respectively, in upstate New York. The trail
is part of the former Wallkill Valley Railroad's rail corridor. The
railway was the first to operate in Ulster County. Passenger service
ended in 1937; the opening of the New York State Thruway and decreased
freight traffic caused the line to close in 1957. The land was purchased
by the towns of Montgomery and Shawangunk in 1985 and converted to a
public trail. The portion of the trail in Shawangunk was formally opened
in 1993 and named after former town supervisor Jesse McHugh. After seven
years of discussion, the route was paved between 2008 and 2009. The
trail includes an unofficial, unimproved section to the north of
Wallkill, and is bounded by NY 52 and NY 208.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden%E2%80%93Wallkill_Rail_Trail>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1859:
Sponsored by Greek businessman Evangelos Zappas, the first
modern revival of the Olympic Games took place in Athens.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zappas_Olympics>
1889:
Brazilian emperor Pedro II was overthrown in a coup led by
Deodoro da Fonseca, while the country was proclaimed a republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_and_fall_of_Pedro_II_of_Brazil>
1922:
During a general strike in Guayaquil, Ecuador, police and
military fired into a crowd, killing at least 300 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1922_Guayaquil_general_strike>
1959:
Two men murdered a family in Holcomb, Kansas; the events became
the subject of Truman Capote's non-fiction novel In Cold Blood, a
pioneering work of the true crime genre.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Cold_Blood>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pervious:
1. Often followed by to: capable of being penetrated by another body or
substance, such as air or water; admitting passage; permeable.
2. (figurative)
3. Capable of being seen through; open to being examined; patent,
unconcealed.
4. Capable of being penetrated mentally; intelligible, understandable.
5. Of a person, etc.: susceptible to being influenced by arguments,
ideas, etc.; impressionable, tractable.
6. (obsolete)
7. Capable of penetrating or permeating.
8. (botany, zoology) Of a body structure (especially the nostril of a
bird): having a hole, perforate; also, wide open.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pervious>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To have real knowledge, one must understand the essence of things
and not only their manifestations.
--Daniel Barenboim
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Barenboim>
Costello's (also known as Tim's) was a bar and restaurant in Midtown
Manhattan, New York City, from 1929 to 1992. The bar operated at several
locations near the intersection of East 44th Street and Third Avenue.
Costello's was known as a drinking spot for journalists with the New
York Daily News, writers with The New Yorker, novelists, and
cartoonists, including the author Ernest Hemingway, the cartoonist James
Thurber, the journalist John McNulty, the poet Brendan Behan, the short-
story writer John O'Hara, and the writers Maeve Brennan and A. J.
Liebling. The bar is also known for having been home to a wall where
Thurber drew a cartoon depiction of the "Battle of the Sexes" at some
point between 1934 and 1935; the cartoon was destroyed, illustrated
again, and then lost in the 1990s. A wall illustrated in 1976 by several
cartoonists, including Bill Gallo, Stan Lee, Mort Walker, Al Jaffee,
Sergio Aragonés, and Dik Browne, is still on display at the bar's final
location.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costello%27s>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1969:
Apollo 12 launched from the Kennedy Space Center, becoming the
second crewed flight to land on the Moon.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_12>
1990:
Music producer Frank Farian admitted that the German R&B; duo
Milli Vanilli did not sing the vocals on their album Girl You Know It's
True.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milli_Vanilli>
1992:
In poor conditions caused by Cyclone Forrest, Vietnam Airlines
Flight 474 crashed near Nha Trang, killing 30 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Forrest>
2003:
Astronomers Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L.
Rabinowitz discovered the trans-Neptunian object Sedna.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedna_%28dwarf_planet%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mind's ear:
(idiomatic) The mental faculty or inner sense with which one produces or
reproduces imagined or recalled sounds solely within the mind; the
supposed organ within the mind which experiences such sounds.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mind%27s_ear>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You don't change the course of history by turning the faces of
portraits to the wall.
--Jawaharlal Nehru
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru>
The album covers of Blue Note Records, an American jazz record label,
have been recognized for their distinctive designs, which often feature
bold colors, experimental typography, and candid photographs of the
album's musicians, and are described as belonging to the Bauhaus and
Swiss Style movements. In the early 1950s, artists like Gil Mellé, Paul
Bacon, and John Hermansader designed Blue Note's earliest album covers.
In 1956, Reid Miles was hired as Blue Note's art director, creating 400
to 500 covers with a unique style incorporating diverse typefaces and
design principles such as asymmetry and tinting. After Miles left in
1967, artists like Mati Klarwein and Bob Venosa took over. Designers
such as Norman Seeff and Bob Cato contributed in the 1970s, while
Japanese artists created new covers for reissues in the late 1970s and
1980s. From the mid-1980s onward, artists like Paula Scher and Adam
Pendleton have designed covers, with Miles's work in particular
remaining highly influential.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Album_covers_of_Blue_Note_Records>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1914:
Zaian War: Zaian Berber tribesmen routed French forces at the
Battle of El Herri in Morocco.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_El_Herri>
1963:
A man wielding a dagger was subdued as he was about to attack
Sanzō Nosaka, the chairman of the Japanese Communist Party.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanz%C5%8D_Nosaka>
1966:
Arab–Israeli conflict: In response to a Fatah landmine
incident, the Israeli military conducted a large cross-border assault on
the Jordanian-controlled West Bank village of Samu.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samu_incident>
1974:
Ronald DeFeo Jr. killed six members of his family in
Amityville, New York, events that later inspired the book The Amityville
Horror and a subsequent media franchise.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_DeFeo_Jr.>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pay through the nose:
(idiomatic) To pay an exorbitant or excessive amount, either in money or
in some other manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pay_through_the_nose>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but let
us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are,
such are the times.
--Augustine of Hippo
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo>
Gedling Town Football Club was a semi-professional association football
club based in Stoke Bardolph in Nottinghamshire, England. Founded in
1985 as R & R Scaffolding, the works team of a construction firm from
Netherfield, the club played its first four seasons in amateur football.
Between 1990 and 2008, Gedling competed in three Central Midlands
Football League divisions and Division One of the Northern Counties East
Football League, winning three league titles in the process. Gedling
then joined the Premier Division of the East Midlands Counties Football
League at the tenth tier of the English football pyramid, in which the
club remained until its dissolution in 2011 due to insolvency. Its home
ground from the early 1990s was the Riverside Stadium behind the Ferry
Boat Inn (pictured). Tournament records included reaching the third
qualifying round of the FA Cup in in 2003–04 and the fourth round of
the FA Vase in 2003–04, 2004–05 and 2005–06. The team were
nicknamed "The Ferrymen", and their colours were primarily yellow and
blue.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gedling_Town_F.C.>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1956:
Suez Crisis: During an invasion of Rafah, Israeli soldiers shot
and killed an estimated 111 Palestinian refugees and local inhabitants.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956_Rafah_massacre>
1970:
The Oregon Highway Division unsuccessfully attempted to destroy
a rotting beached sperm whale near Florence, Oregon, with dynamite.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_whale>
1991:
Indonesian forces opened fire on student demonstrators
protesting the occupation of East Timor in the capital Dili, killing at
least 250 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_massacre>
2014:
The European Space Agency's lander Philae touched down on
67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, becoming the first spacecraft to land on a
comet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/67P/Churyumov%E2%80%93Gerasimenko>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dictionary attack:
(computing, cryptography) An attempt to illegally access a computer
network, website, etc., that uses a list of words (from a dictionary) to
try to guess decryption keys or passwords.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dictionary_attack>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Once you have acquired the skills, you must test them on an
opponent, but in no way should you consider victory or submission to be
a cause for shame or pride. Rather, you ought to think, "By what means
did I defeat him?" Or, "By what means could I have defeated him?" Then
you exert and test yourself for a while.
--Qi Jiguang
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Qi_Jiguang>
Mells War Memorial is a First World War memorial in the village of
Mells, Somerset, in south-western England. Designed by Sir Edwin
Lutyens, the memorial takes the form of a marble column topped by a
sculpture of Saint George slaying a dragon (pictured). At the base of
the column, the names of the village's war dead are inscribed on stone
panels. The memorial is flanked by rubble walls in local stone, on top
of which grows a yew hedge. Low stone benches protrude from the walls to
allow wreaths to be laid. The memorial is one of multiple buildings and
structures in Mells designed by Lutyens. The memorial was unveiled on
26 June 1921 by Brigadier-General Arthur Asquith, whose brother is
commemorated on it and whose father was Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom for much of the war. Additional panels were fixed to the wall to
commemorate the Second World War. It is a grade II* listed building and
since 2015 has been part of a national collection of Lutyens's war
memorials.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mells_War_Memorial>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1813:
War of 1812: British–Canadian forces repelled an American
attack at the Battle of Crysler's Farm, forcing the United States to
give up their attempt to capture Montreal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crysler%27s_Farm>
1934:
The Shrine of Remembrance, a memorial to all Australians who
have served in war, opened in Melbourne.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrine_of_Remembrance>
1999:
The House of Lords Act was given royal assent, removing most
hereditary peers from the British House of Lords.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords_Act_1999>
2008:
After 30 years in power, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was succeeded by
Mohamed Nasheed as president of the Maldives.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maumoon_Abdul_Gayoom>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
encampment:
1. (countable)
2.
3. (often military) A place where people (such as displaced people,
soldiers, or travellers) encamp, that is, stay in tents or other
temporary structures; a camp or campsite.
4. (figurative) A place where people or things stay temporarily.
5. (by extension, archaeology) An enclosed or fortified prehistoric
site, especially a European Iron Age hill-fort.
6. (by extension, Freemasonry, obsolete) A meeting of Freemasons.
7. (uncountable) The act of encamping or setting up a camp; also, the
state of being encamped or in a camp.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/encampment>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Just because some of us can read and write and do a little math,
that doesn't mean we deserve to conquer the Universe.
--Kurt Vonnegut
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut>
Justus was the fourth archbishop of Canterbury. Pope Gregory the Great
sent Justus to England on a mission to Christianise the Anglo-Saxons,
probably arriving with the second group of missionaries despatched in
601. Justus became the first bishop of Rochester in 604 and signed a
letter to the Irish bishops urging them to adopt the Roman method of
calculating the date of Easter. He also attended a church council in
Paris in 614. Following the death of King Æthelberht of Kent in 616,
Justus was forced to flee to Gaul but was reinstated in his diocese the
following year. In 624, Justus became Archbishop of Canterbury,
overseeing the despatch of missionaries to Northumbria. He died on
10 November, probably sometime between 627 and 631. After his death, he
was revered as a saint and had a shrine in St Augustine's Abbey in
Canterbury, to which his remains were translated in the 1090s
(gravestone pictured). (This article is part of a featured topic:
Members of the Gregorian mission.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Members_of_the_Greg…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1969:
The children's television series Sesame Street (puppeteer
pictured) premiered in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street>
1972:
Three men hijacked Southern Airways Flight 49 and threatened
to crash it into Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the U.S. state of
Tennessee.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Airways_Flight_49>
2006:
Nadarajah Raviraj, a prominent Sri Lankan Tamil politician and
human rights lawyer, was assassinated in Colombo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadarajah_Raviraj>
2009:
A skirmish occurred between South Korean and North Korean naval
ships off Daecheong Island in the Yellow Sea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daecheong_incident>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
researchship:
1. (countable) A paid position doing research, typically for a
university or non-profit organization.
2. (uncountable) The practice or quality of conducting research. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/researchship>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that
dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.
--Neil Gaiman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Gaiman>
Mario Party DS is a 2007 party video game developed by Hudson Soft and
published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It is the second handheld
game in the Mario Party series, as well as the last game in the series
to be developed by Hudson Soft, as all subsequent games have been
developed by NDcube. Like most installments in the Mario Party series,
Mario Party DS features characters of the Mario franchise competing in a
board game with a variety of minigames, many of which utilize the
console's unique features, including its built-in microphone, dual
screen and touch screen mechanics, and motion sensitivity. Up to four
human players can compete at a time, though characters can also be
computer-controlled. Although Mario Party DS received mixed reviews,
with general praise for its minigame variety and criticism for its
absence of an online multiplayer mode, the game has sold more than nine
million units worldwide, making it the 11th-best-selling game for the
Nintendo DS.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Party_DS>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1965:
Vietnam War: In the Battle of Gang Toi, one of the earliest
battles between the two sides, Viet Cong forces repelled an Australian
attack.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gang_Toi>
1966:
Former Massachusetts attorney general Edward Brooke became the
first African American elected to the United States Senate since
Reconstruction.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Brooke>
1974:
British peer Lord Lucan disappeared without a trace, a day
after allegedly murdering Sandra Rivett, his children's nanny.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bingham,_7th_Earl_of_Lucan>
2006:
Israeli artillery shelled a row of houses in the Gaza Strip
town of Beit Hanoun, killing at least 19 Palestinians and wounding more
than 40 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_shelling_of_Beit_Hanoun>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
set about:
1. Used with the adverb sense of about.
2. (transitive, archaic except chiefly Northern England) To circulate or
spread (news, a rumour, etc.)
3. Used with the preposition sense of about.
4. (transitive)
5. (archaic) To plant trees or other vegetation in (a place).
6. (passive voice, archaic) To encircle or surround (something) with
other things.
7. (UK, informal) To attack (someone); to set upon.
8. (intransitive) To start doing or to devote oneself to some task; to
set upon.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/set_about>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
This was a movement like nobody's ever seen before and, frankly,
this was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time —
there's never been anything like this in this country, and maybe beyond,
and now it's going to reach a new level of importance because we're
going to help our country heal. We're going to help our country heal. We
have a country that needs help, and it needs help very badly. We're
going to fix our borders, we're going to fix everything about our
country and we've made history for a reason tonight, and the reason is
going to be just that.
--Donald Trump
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donald_Trump>
Starship Troopers is a science-fiction action film released on
November 7, 1997. Directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward
Neumeier, it is based on the 1959 novel Starship Troopers by Robert A.
Heinlein (pictured). The story follows teenager Johnny Rico and his
comrades as they serve in a 23rd-century interstellar war against aliens
called the Arachnids. The film stars Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise
Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Patrick Muldoon, and Michael
Ironside. Starship Troopers faced critical backlash, with reviewers
seeing it as endorsing fascism, and disparaging its violent content.
Despite initial box-office success, negative reviews and unfavorable
word of mouth made it only the 34th-highest-grossing film of 1997. It
has since been critically re-evaluated, and is now considered a cult
classic and a satire of fascism and authoritarianism that has grown in
relevancy. The film launched a multimedia franchise, video games,
comics, and a variety of merchandise.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Troopers_%28film%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1837:
American abolitionist Elijah Parish Lovejoy was murdered by a
pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois, during an attack to destroy his
printing press and abolitionist materials.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elijah_Parish_Lovejoy>
1934:
The first specimens of the tufted jay to be scientifically
described were collected in Mexico.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tufted_jay>
1949:
Oil was discovered in the Caspian Sea off the coast of
Azerbaijan, leading to the construction of Neft Daşları, the world's
first offshore oil platform.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neft_Da%C5%9Flar%C4%B1>
1987:
Singapore's first Mass Rapid Transit line opened, with train
services running between Yio Chu Kang and Toa Payoh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Rapid_Transit_%28Singapore%29>
1991:
Magic Johnson announced his retirement from professional
basketball due to HIV infection.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Johnson>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
blither:
1. (intransitive, informal or UK, dialectal) To talk foolishly; to
blather.
2. (informal or UK, dialectal, uncountable) Foolish or nonsensical talk;
blather; (countable) an instance of this.
3. (countable, by extension, derogatory, dated) A foolish person; a
fool, an idiot. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blither>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we
lose an election, we accept the results. That principle, as much as any
other, distinguishes democracy from monarchy or tyranny. And anyone who
seeks the public trust must honor it. At the same time, in our nation,
we owe loyalty not to a president or a party, but to the Constitution of
the United States, and loyalty to our conscience and to our God. My
allegiance to all three is why I am here to say, while I concede this
election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign — the
fight: the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness, and the
dignity of all people. A fight for the ideals at the heart of our
nation, the ideals that reflect America at our best. That is a fight I
will never give up.
--Kamala Harris
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris>