The Jarrow March (5–31 October 1936) was a protest against the
unemployment and poverty suffered in the Tyneside town of Jarrow, in
North East England, during the 1930s. Around 200 men marched from Jarrow
to London to petition the government to restore industry in the town
after the closure in 1934 of Palmer's shipyard. Palmer's had launched
more than 1,000 ships since 1852. In the 1920s, a combination of
mismanagement and changed world trade conditions caused a decline which
led to the yard's closure. When plans for its replacement by a
steelworks were thwarted, the lack of any large-scale employment in the
town led the borough council to organise the march. The House of Commons
received the petition but took no action, and the march produced few
immediate results. The Jarrovians went home believing that they had
failed. In subsequent years the Jarrow March became recognised as a
defining event of the 1930s and helped to prepare the way for wide
social reform after the Second World War.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarrow_March>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1899:
Philippine–American War: Malolos, capital of the First
Philippine Republic, was captured by American forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Malolos>
1959:
After a two-week escape journey from Tibet, the 14th Dalai Lama
reached the Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh in India.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawang_Monastery>
1964:
The Brazilian Armed Forces overthrew President João Goulart,
establishing a military dictatorship that lasted 21 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Brazilian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
2004:
The Old National Library Building in Singapore was closed to
make way for a tunnel, despite widespread protests.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_National_Library_Building>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
transgender:
1. (broadly) Of a person: having a gender (identity) which is different
from one's assigned sex; that is, the identity of a trans man, trans
woman, or someone non-binary, for example, agender, bigender, or third-
gender.
2. (strictly) Of a person: having a gender (identity) which is opposite
from the sex one was assigned at birth: being assigned male but having a
female gender, or vice versa (that is, not including a non-binary
identity).
3. (loosely) Of a person: transgressing or not identifying with
culturally conventional gender roles and categories of male or female.
4. Of or pertaining to transgender people (sense 1), or their
experiences or identity.
5. Of a space: intended primarily for transgender people.
6. Of a space: available for use by transgender people, rather than only
non-transgender people.
7. Synonym of crossgender (“across multiple genders”) [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/transgender>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
My spirit to yours dear brother, Do not mind because many
sounding your name do not understand you, I do not sound your name, but
I understand you, I specify you with joy O my comrade to salute you,
and to salute those who are with you, before and since, and those to
come also, That we all labor together transmitting the same charge and
succession, We few equals indifferent of lands, indifferent of times,
We, enclosers of all continents, all castes, allowers of all theologies,
Compassionaters, perceivers, rapport of men, We walk silent among
disputes and assertions, but reject not the disputers nor any thing that
is asserted, We hear the bawling and din, we are reach'd at by
divisions, jealousies, recriminations on every side, They close
peremptorily upon us to surround us, my comrade, Yet we walk unheld,
free, the whole earth over, journeying up and down till we make our
ineffaceable mark upon time and the diverse eras, Till we saturate time
and eras, that the men and women of races, ages to come, may prove
brethren and lovers as we are.
--Leaves of Grass
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leaves_of_Grass>
Lou Henry Hoover (March 29, 1874 – January 7, 1944) was the first
lady of the United States from 1929 to 1933 as the wife of President
Herbert Hoover. She was active in community groups, including the Girl
Scouts of the USA, which she led from 1922 to 1925 and from 1935 to
1937. She was the first woman to earn a geology degree from Stanford. In
the first twenty years of their marriage, the Hoovers lived in several
countries; during World War I, they led efforts to assist war refugees.
Beginning in 1917, they lived in Washington, D.C., as Herbert became a
high government official. In the White House, Lou Hoover dedicated her
time as first lady to her volunteer work, though she did not publicize
it. Her invitation of Jessie De Priest to the White House for tea was
controversial in the South. After Herbert's defeat for re-election in
1932, Lou Hoover continued her work, helping provide refugee support
with her husband during World War II, and died suddenly of a heart
attack in 1944.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Henry_Hoover>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1882:
The Knights of Columbus, the world's largest Catholic fraternal
service organization, was founded by Michael J. McGivney in New Haven,
Connecticut, U.S.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Columbus>
1974:
NASA's Mariner 10 became the first space probe to make a flyby
of Mercury.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_10>
1999:
The Chamoli earthquake, one of the strongest to hit the
foothills of the Himalayas in more than 90 years, killed at least 100
people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Chamoli_earthquake>
2014:
The first same-sex marriages in England and Wales took place
following the passage of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_the_United_Kingdom>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
misfield:
1. (transitive) To field (“catch or intercept and play”) (a ball)
clumsily or ineptly; in cricket this can result in the batsman scoring
another run.
2. (intransitive) To field a ball clumsily or ineptly.
3. (baseball, cricket, rugby) A failure to field (“catch or intercept
and play”) a ball properly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/misfield>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Sometimes a strange light shines, purer than the moon, casting
no shadow, that is the halo upon the bones of the pioneers who died
for truth.
--R. S. Thomas
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._S._Thomas>
Royal Maundy is a religious service in the Church of England held on
Maundy Thursday. At the service, the British monarch or a royal official
distributes small silver coins known as "Maundy money". The name
"Maundy" and the ceremony derive from the instruction of Jesus at the
Last Supper that his followers should love one another. English monarchs
washed the feet of beggars in imitation of Jesus, and gave to the poor;
the latter custom survives through the Maundy gifts. Recipients were
once chosen for their poverty, but are now chosen for service to their
churches or communities. At the 2024 service at Worcester Cathedral, the
distribution is being made by Queen Camilla in place of her husband,
Charles III, following his diagnosis of cancer. The coins' obverse
design features the reigning monarch, while the reverse design features
a crowned numeral enclosed by a wreath. In most years there are fewer
than 2,000 complete sets of Maundy money; they are highly sought after
by collectors.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Maundy>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1942:
Second World War: The port of Saint-Nazaire in German-occupied
France was disabled by British naval forces (ship pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nazaire_Raid>
1946:
The US Department of State released the Acheson–Lilienthal
Report, a proposal for the international control of nuclear weapons.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acheson%E2%80%93Lilienthal_Report>
1979:
British prime minister James Callaghan was defeated by one vote
in a vote of no confidence after his government struggled to cope with
widespread strikes during the Winter of Discontent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_vote_of_no_confidence_in_the_Callaghan_m…>
1999:
Kosovo War: Serbian police and special forces killed around 93
Kosovo Albanians in the village of Izbica.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izbica_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lumpish:
1. Having an ill-defined or rough form or shape like a lump; lumplike.
2. (figurative)
3. Awkward and ungainly in appearance or movement; clumsy, inelegant.
4. Dull and slow in acting, thinking, etc.; without energy; cloddish,
lethargic, slow-witted, sluggish.
5. Of sound: dull, heavy.
6. (obsolete)
7. Full of lumps; lumpy.
8. Of a thing: having a shape and/or weight which makes it inconvenient
to move; cumbersome, unwieldy.
9. (figurative) Miserable, sad.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lumpish>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I will not hesitate to tell my friends when I think they're wrong
and to tell my opponents when I think they're right.
--Joe Lieberman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Lieberman>
The battle of New Carthage, part of the Second Punic War, took place in
early 209 BC when a Roman army under Publius Scipio (bust pictured)
assaulted New Carthage, held by a Carthaginian garrison under Mago. Late
in 210 BC Scipio took command of Roman forces in Iberia (modern Spain
and Portugal) and decided to strike at the regional centre of
Carthaginian power: its capital, New Carthage. He marched on the city
and immediately attacked it. After defeating a Carthaginian force
outside the walls, he pressed attacks on the east gate and the walls.
Both were repulsed, but later that day Scipio renewed them. Hard-
pressed, Mago moved men from the north wall, overlooking a broad,
shallow lagoon. Anticipating this, a force of 500 men waded the lagoon
to scale the north wall unopposed. They fought their way to the east
gate, opened it from inside and let in their comrades. The city fell and
became a logistics centre for the Roman war effort. By 206 BC the
Carthaginians had been expelled from Iberia.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_New_Carthage>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1899:
Philippine–American War: American forces defeated troops
commanded by Philippine president Emilio Aguinaldo at the Battle of
Marilao River.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marilao_River>
1958:
Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union, assumed the office of premier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev>
1998:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug
sildenafil (chemical structure pictured), better known by the trade name
Viagra, for use as a treatment for erectile dysfunction, the first pill
to be approved for this condition in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sildenafil>
1999:
During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, an Army of Yugoslavia
unit shot down a U.S. Air Force F-117 stealth aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_F-117A_shootdown>
2020:
North Macedonia became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Macedonia%E2%80%93NATO_relations>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
floater:
1. A person who floats.
2. A person who physically floats in a gas or liquid.
3. (law enforcement, slang) A corpse floating in a body of water.
4. (figurative) A person without a fixed or lasting affiliation,
position, or role.
5. A person who frequently changes where they live; a drifter, a
vagrant.
6. A person who frequently changes employment.
7. An employee of an organization who does not have fixed tasks to do
but fills in wherever needed, usually when someone else is away; also, a
short-term employee; a temporary, a temp.
8. An "extra" (male) guest at a party who is asked by the host to
entertain the other (often female) guests.
9. (slang) A person who attaches themselves to a group of people, and
who repeatedly shows up at group activities even though this is
undesired by the group; a hanger-on.
10. (politics)
11. A voter who shifts their allegiance from one political party to
another, especially (US) one whose vote can be illegally purchased.
12. (US) A person who votes illegally in various electoral districts or
polling places, either under a false voter registration or under the
name of a properly registered voter who has not yet voted.
13. (US) A person, such as a delegate to a convention or a member of a
legislature, who represents an irregular constituency, such as one
formed by a union of the voters of two counties neither of which has a
number sufficient to be allowed one (or an extra) representative of its
own.
14. (sports) A player not affiliated with a team. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/floater>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You have no enemies, you say? Alas, my friend, the boast is
poor; He, who has mingled in the fray Of duty that the brave endure,
Must have made foes! If you have none, Small is the work that you have
done, You've hit no traitor on the hip, You've dashed no cup from
perjured lip, You've never turned the wrong to right, You've been a
coward in the fight.
--Charles Mackay
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Mackay>
Felix of Burgundy (died 647 or 648) was a saint and the first bishop of
the kingdom of the East Angles. He is widely credited as the man who
introduced Christianity to the kingdom. Felix came from the Frankish
kingdom of Burgundy, and may have been a priest at one of the
monasteries in Francia founded by the Irish missionary
Columbanus—Felix may have been Bishop of Châlons, before being forced
to seek refuge elsewhere. Felix travelled from Burgundy to Canterbury
before being sent by Archbishop Honorius of Canterbury to the kingdom of
Sigeberht of East Anglia in about 630. Upon Felix's arrival in East
Anglia, Sigeberht gave him a see at Dommoc, possibly in Suffolk, either
at Walton, near Felixstowe, or at Dunwich. According to Bede, Felix
helped Sigeberht to establish a school in his kingdom. Felix died on
8 March 647 or 648, having been bishop for 17 years. His relics were
translated from Dommoc to Soham Abbey and then to the abbey at Ramsey.
Several English churches are dedicated to him.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_of_Burgundy>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1651:
The Spanish ship San José ran aground onto coasts controlled
by the indigenous Cunco people, who subsequently killed the crew.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wreckage_of_San_Jos%C3%A9>
1697:
The Safavid Empire began a four-year occupation of the Ottoman
city of Basra on the Persian Gulf.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safavid_occupation_of_Basra>
1812:
The Boston Gazette printed a cartoon coining the term
"gerrymander", named after Governor Elbridge Gerry, who approved the
legislation that created oddly shaped electoral districts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbridge_Gerry>
1939:
Spanish Civil War: Nationalists began their final offensive of
the war, at the end of which they controlled almost the entire country.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_offensive_of_the_Spanish_Civil_War>
1999:
A jury began deliberations in the trial of Jack Kevorkian, an
American practitioner of physician-assisted suicide who was charged with
murder in the death of a terminally ill patient.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kevorkian>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
attitudinize:
1. (transitive)
2. To cause (someone or something) to assume an attitude or pose; to
pose, to posture.
3. To give the appearance of, or make a show of, (something) by assuming
an affected or exaggerated attitude.
4. (intransitive)
5. To assume an attitude or pose, especially one which is affected,
exaggerated, or unnatural; to posture, to posturize; also, to
excessively practise adopting attitudes or poses.
6. (figurative) To create art, speak, or write in a manner which assumes
affected, exaggerated, or unnatural attitudes.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/attitudinize>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Most of the change we think we see in life Is due to truths
being in and out of favor.
--Robert Frost
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Frost>
The first match between the association football teams of Scotland and
Wales took place on 25 March 1876 at Hamilton Crescent, Partick,
Scotland. The fixture was organised by Llewelyn Kenrick, who had founded
the Football Association of Wales only a few weeks earlier. The Welsh
team was selected after trial matches were held at the Racecourse Ground
in Wrexham, Wales. Scotland, the more experienced team, dominated the
match and had several chances to score in the first half. They had a
goal disallowed after scoring directly from a corner kick, before taking
the lead after 40 minutes through John Ferguson. In the early stages of
the second half, Wales attempted to play more openly to find a goal, but
the Scottish side took advantage of their opponent's inexperience and
scored two further goals. Scotland added a fourth through Henry McNeil
and claimed a victory in front of a crowd of around 17,000 people, a
record for an international fixture at the time.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1876_Scotland_v_Wales_football_match>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1799:
War of the Second Coalition: In their second battle in seven
days, the French Army of the Danube and Habsburg forces battled for
control of the Hegau region.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stockach_%281799%29>
1949:
The Soviet Union began mass deportations of more than 90,000
"undesirable" people from the Baltic states to Siberia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Priboi>
1959:
Chain Island was sold by California to a Sacramento businessman
who planned to use it as a "hunting and fishing retreat".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_Island>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pleroma:
1. (botany)
2. A plant of the genus Pleroma.
3. (archaic or obsolete, rare) Synonym of plerome (“the central portion
of the apical meristem in a growing plant root or stem which, according
to the histogen theory, gives rise to the endodermis and stele”)
4. (Christianity) A state of perfect fullness, especially of God's being
as incarnated in Jesus Christ.
5. (Gnosticism, historical) Often preceded by the: the spiritual
universe seen as the totality of the essence and powers of God.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pleroma>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Bangladesh, Bangladesh Where so many people are dying fast And
it sure looks like a mess I've never seen such distress. Now won't you
lend your hand, try to understand? Relieve the people of Bangladesh.
--George Harrison
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Harrison>
Eye is a collection by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen for
his fashion house, inspired by the culture of the Middle East,
particularly Islamic clothing, as well as the oppression of women in
Islamic culture and their resistance. The collection crosses traditional
garments with elements drawn from Western fashion. Jeweller Shaun Leane
provided the collection's best-known design: a yashmak made from
chainmail. The runway show for Eye was staged at Pier 94 in New York
City on 16 September 1999, while Hurricane Floyd was threatening the
city; more than 1,000 guests attended. The show was presented on a
runway flooded with several inches of water, dyed black to resemble oil.
A bed of nails rose up from the water for the finale, which featured
acrobats dressed in robes descending from the ceiling, suspended from
wires. When McQueen walked out for his final bow, he dropped his
trousers to display boxer shorts styled to look like the American flag.
Critical response to Eye was mixed.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_%28Alexander_McQueen_collection%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1934:
The Tydings–McDuffie Act came into effect, which provided for
self-government of the Philippines and for Filipino independence from
the United States after a period of ten years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tydings%E2%80%93McDuffie_Act>
1939:
Members of the German National Movement in Liechtenstein
attempted to overthrow the government and provoke Liechtenstein's
annexation into Nazi Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939_Liechtenstein_putsch>
1964:
Royal assent was given to Prince Edward Island's Provincial
Flag Act, which outlined the design of its provincial flag (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Prince_Edward_Island>
2006:
Hannah Montana, starring Miley Cyrus as an actress whose alter
ego is the titular character, premiered.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Montana>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
turn a blind eye:
(intransitive, idiomatic) To deliberately or knowingly ignore, overlook,
or refuse to acknowledge something, especially when improper or
unpleasant; to look the other way.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/turn_a_blind_eye>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I will tell thee this one thing, that there be many hypocrites,
and, nevertheless, they think themselves to be none, and that there be
many that dread and fear themselves to be hypocrites, and soothly are
none; who is the one, and who is the other, God knows, and none but He.
Whoso will humbly dread, shall not be beguiled, and whoso thinketh
himself secure, he may lightly fall.
--Walter Hilton
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_Hilton>
Argosy was an American magazine, founded by Frank Munsey in 1882 as a
children's weekly. In 1896 it became the first pulp magazine, printing
only fiction and using cheap pulp paper. Circulation rose and remained
strong for decades, but fell to no more than 50,000 by 1942. Many famous
writers appeared in Argosy, including O. Henry, Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Erle Stanley Gardner, and Robert E. Howard. It was sold in 1942 to
Popular Publications and converted from pulp to slick format, and then
to a men's magazine, carrying fiction and feature articles. Circulation
soared to well over one million. From 1948 to 1958 it published a series
by Gardner which examined the cases of dozens of convicts who maintained
their innocence. It succeeded in overturning many of their convictions.
In 1972 Popular sold the magazine to David Geller. He sold it to the
Filipacchi Group in 1978, which closed it down at the end of the year.
The title has been revived several times, most recently in 2016.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argosy_%28magazine%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1931:
Bhagat Singh, one of the most influential revolutionaries of
the Indian independence movement, and two others were executed by the
British authorities.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagat_Singh>
1989:
Two researchers announced the discovery of cold fusion, a claim
which was later discredited.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_fusion>
1994:
Aeroflot Flight 593 crashed into a hillside in Russia's
Kemerovo Oblast, killing all 75 people on board, after the pilot's 16
-year-old son had unknowingly disabled the autopilot while seated at the
controls.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_593>
2005:
A fire and explosion at the third-largest oil refinery in the
United States killed 15 workers and kicked off process safety programs
throughout the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_refinery_explosion>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
plum rains:
Also occasionally in the singular form plum rain: the East Asian rainy
season from early summer to midsummer in the fourth and fifth lunar
months (early June to early or mid-July); also, the rain which falls
during this season.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plum_rains>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Spinoza formulated the problem of the socially patterned defect
very clearly. He says: "Many people are seized by one and the same
affect with great consistency. All his senses are so affected by one
object that he believes this object to be present even when it is not.
If this happens while the person is awake, the person is believed to be
insane. … but if the greedy person thinks only of money and
possessions, the ambitious one only of fame, one does not think of them
as being insane, but only has annoying; generally one has contempt for
them. But factually greediness, ambition, and so forth are forms of
insanity, although usually one does not think of them as 'illness.'"
These words were written a few hundred years ago; they still hold true,
although the defects have been culturally patterned to such an extent
now that they are not even generally thought any more to be annoying or
contemptible.
--The Sane Society
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Sane_Society>
Pinnipeds, including true seals, walruses and sea lions and fur seals,
are a widely distributed and diverse clade of semiaquatic, mostly marine
mammals of the order Carnivora. There are 34 living species. They have
streamlined bodies and four limbs that have evolved into flippers. Males
typically mate with more than one female, and the females raise the
pups, often born in the spring and summer months. Pinnipeds generally
prefer colder waters and spend most of their time in the water, but come
ashore to mate, give birth, molt or escape from predators such as sharks
and orcas. Humans have hunted seals since at least the Stone Age, and
commercial sealing had a devastating effect on some species from the
introduction of firearms through the 1960s. Populations have also been
reduced or displaced by accidental trapping and marine pollution. All
pinniped species are now afforded some protections under international
law.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinniped>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1638:
Anne Hutchinson was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony
for her participation in the Antinomian Controversy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Hutchinson>
1896:
Charilaos Vasilakos won the first modern marathon in
preparation for the inaugural Summer Olympics.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charilaos_Vasilakos>
1913:
Phan Xích Long, the self-proclaimed emperor of Vietnam, was
arrested for organising a revolt against the colonial rule of French
Indochina, which was nevertheless carried out by his supporters the
following day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phan_X%C3%ADch_Long>
1984:
Teachers at a preschool in Manhattan Beach, California, were
falsely charged with the sexual abuse of schoolchildren, leading to the
longest and costliest criminal trial in United States history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial>
1995:
Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returned from the space
station Mir aboard Soyuz TM-20 after 437 days in space, setting a record
for the longest spaceflight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeri_Polyakov>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mizzly:
(Britain, chiefly dialectal) Raining in the form of mizzle (“misty rain;
drizzle”); drizzly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mizzly>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Most Americans, in their sweet innocence, think that class has to
do with money. But a glance at Donald Trump and Leona Helmsley will
indicate that it has very little to do with money. It has to do with
taste and style, and it has to do with the development of those features
by acts of character. That was one of my points: to try to separate
class from mercantilism or commercialism.
--Paul Fussell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Fussell>
William Y. Slack (August 1, 1816 – March 21, 1862) was an American
lawyer, politician and soldier. A peacetime lawyer, Slack served in the
Missouri General Assembly from 1842 to 1843 and saw combat in the
Mexican–American War. After the outbreak of the American Civil War in
April 1861, Slack, who held pro-slavery views, supported the
Confederate cause. When the Missouri State Guard was formed the next
month to oppose the Union Army, he was appointed as a brigadier general,
commanding its 4th Division. After participating in the Battle of
Carthage in July, he fought in the Battle of Wilson's Creek on
August 10, where he suffered a bad hip wound. He transferred to the
Confederate Army in late 1861 as a colonel. On March 7, 1862, during
the Battle of Pea Ridge, he was wounded again. Infection set in, and he
died on March 21. He was posthumously promoted to brigadier general in
the Confederate Army on April 17; the Confederate Senate may not have
known that he was dead.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Y._Slack>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1913:
More than 360 were killed and 20,000 homes were destroyed in
the Great Dayton Flood in Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Dayton_Flood>
1968:
War of Attrition: The Battle of Karameh took place between the
Israel Defense Forces and allied troops of the Palestine Liberation
Organization and the Jordanian Armed Forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karameh>
1980:
The American soap opera Dallas aired the episode "A House
Divided", which led to eight months of international speculation on "Who
shot J.R.?"
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_House_Divided_%28Dallas%29>
2019:
A major explosion at a chemical plant in Yancheng, China,
killed 78 people and injured 640 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Xiangshui_chemical_plant_explosion>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
drift of the forest:
(Britain, law, historical) The act of driving or herding cattle in a
forest to a particular place in order to determine who they belong to
and whether the owners have a right to common or pasture them in the
forest, and whether any fines should be paid by those without such a
right.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drift_of_the_forest>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The last, best fruit that comes to perfection, even in the
kindliest soul, is tenderness toward the hard; forbearance toward the
unforbearing; warmth of heart toward the cold; and philanthropy toward
the misanthropic.
--Jean Paul
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Paul>