The Mercury Seven were a group of American astronauts selected to fly
spacecraft for Project Mercury. Announced by NASA on April 9, 1959,
Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra,
Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton created a new profession. The group
piloted all the spaceflights of the Mercury program that had an
astronaut on board from May 1961 to May 1963, and some flew in the
Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle programs. Shepard became the first
American to enter space in 1961, and walked on the Moon in 1971.
Grissom, after flying Mercury and Gemini missions, died in 1967 in the
Apollo 1 fire; the others survived past retirement from service.
Schirra commanded Apollo 7, the first crewed Apollo flight. Slayton,
grounded with atrial fibrillation, ultimately flew on the Apollo–Soyuz
Test Project in 1975. Glenn became the first American in orbit in 1962,
and flew on Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998 to become, at age 77, the
oldest person to fly in space at the time.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Seven>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1388:
Despite being vastly outnumbered, forces of the Old Swiss
Confederacy defeated an Austrian army at the Battle of Näfels.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_N%C3%A4fels>
1838:
The National Gallery opened in its current building in
Trafalgar Square, London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gallery>
1939:
After being denied permission to perform at Constitution Hall
by the Daughters of the American Revolution, African-American singer
Marian Anderson gave an open-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln
Memorial in Washington, D.C.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Anderson>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
force majeure:
1. An overwhelming force.
2. (law) An unavoidable circumstance, especially one that prevents
someone from fulfilling a legal (usually contractual) obligation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/force_majeure>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
An artist is only an artist thanks to his exquisite sense of
beauty — a sense which provides him with intoxicating delights, but at
the same time implying and including a sense, equally exquisite, of all
deformity and disproportion.
--Charles Baudelaire
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Baudelaire>
Bob Mann (April 8, 1924 – October 21, 2006) was an American
professional football player in the National Football League (NFL) who
broke the color barrier for both the Detroit Lions (alongside Mel
Groomes) and the Green Bay Packers. He played college football at
Hampton Institute in 1942 and 1943 and at the University of Michigan in
1944, 1946 and 1947. Playing the end position, he broke the Big Ten
Conference record for receiving yards in 1946 and 1947. In 1948 Mann
signed a professional contract with the Lions, where he stayed for two
seasons. He led the NFL in receiving yards in 1949. After a brief stint
with the New York Yanks he signed with the Packers, where he was the
team's leading receiver in 1951. He remained with the Packers partway
through the 1954 season. Mann later became a lawyer and practiced in
Detroit. He was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1988
and the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Mann_%28American_football%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1904:
France and the United Kingdom signed the Entente Cordiale,
agreeing to a peaceful coexistence after centuries of intermittent
conflict.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entente_Cordiale>
1911:
American cartoonist Winsor McCay released the silent short film
Little Nemo (featured), one of the earliest animated films.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Nemo_%281911_film%29>
1933:
The Australian state of Western Australia voted to secede from
the federation, but efforts to implement the result proved to be
unsuccessful.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_Western_Australian_secession_referendum>
1973:
The Progress Party was founded in a movie theater in Oslo,
Norway.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_Party_%28Norway%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sequela:
1. (pathology) Chiefly in the plural: a condition or disease which
follows chronologically after an earlier one, being either partly or
wholly caused by it, or made possible by it.
2. (by extension, formal)
3. That which follows; a consequence, an effect.
4. (rare) People who adhere to the opinions or teachings of another;
followers.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sequela>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You and me on the bobbing knee. Didn't we cry at that old
mythology he'd read! I will come home again, but not until The sun and
the moon meet on yon hill.
--Kate Bush
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kate_Bush>
Edward Jones (7 April 1824 – c. 1895), also known as "the boy
Jones", became notorious for breaking into Buckingham Palace in London
several times between 1838 and 1841. He was first caught doing so when
he was 14; although he was found with items he had stolen, he escaped a
prison sentence. He broke into the palace again in December 1840, and
was caught and sentenced to three months' hard labour. He was released
in March 1841 and returned to the palace two weeks later, was arrested
and served another three months. He was coerced into the Royal Navy by
the Thames Police and served between 1842 and 1847. He was caught
burgling houses in August 1849 and was transported to an Australian
penal colony. He returned to England, was arrested for burglary in 1856
and served six months of hard labour. He probably died in Australia,
either in Bairnsdale, Victoria, on Boxing Day 1893 or in Perth in 1896.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_boy_Jones>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1949:
The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, based on
Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener, opened on Broadway.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pacific_%28musical%29>
1964:
Reverend Bruce W. Klunder was killed by a bulldozer while he
was protesting the construction of a segregated school in Cleveland,
Ohio, U.S.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_W._Klunder>
1994:
Rwandan Civil War: The Rwandan genocide began a few hours after
the assassination of President Juvénal Habyarimana, with hundreds of
thousands killed in the following 100 days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_genocide>
2001:
NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey (artist's conception pictured), the
longest-surviving continually active spacecraft in orbit around a planet
other than Earth, launched from Cape Canaveral.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Mars_Odyssey>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
under the knife:
(informal) Chiefly preceded by a form of go: undergoing a surgical
procedure; into surgery.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/under_the_knife>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have felt A presence that disturbs me with the joy Of
elevated thoughts; a sense sublime Of something far more deeply
interfused, Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, And the round
ocean and the living air, And the blue sky, and in the mind of man; A
motion and a spirit, that impels All thinking things, all objects of
all thought, And rolls through all things.
--William Wordsworth
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Wordsworth>
Appalachian Spring is an American ballet created by the composer Aaron
Copland and the choreographer Martha Graham (pictured), later arranged
as an orchestral work. Copland composed the ballet for Graham upon a
commission from Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. Set in a 19th-century
settlement in Pennsylvania, the ballet follows the Bride and the
Husbandman as they get married and celebrate with the community. The
original choreography was by Graham, with costumes by Edythe Gilfond and
sets by Isamu Noguchi. The ballet was well-received at the 1944
premiere, earning Copland the Pulitzer Prize for Music during its 1945
United States tour. The orchestral suite composed in 1945 was played
that year by many symphony orchestras; the suite is among Copland's
best-known works, and the ballet remains essential in the Martha Graham
Dance Company repertoire. A film version of the original production was
released in 1958 with Graham as the Bride; a similar recording was
released in 1976 with Yuriko.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Spring>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1808:
John Jacob Astor founded the American Fur Company, the profits
from which made him the first multi-millionaire in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jacob_Astor>
1974:
ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest representing Sweden with
the song "Waterloo".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest_1974>
1994:
The aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana
and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down in Kigali; the
event became the catalyst for the Rwandan genocide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Juv%C3%A9nal_Habyarimana_and…>
2009:
Mass protests began across Moldova against the results of the
parliamentary election.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2009_Moldovan_parliamentary_election_pr…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dyspnea:
(pathology) Difficult or laboured respiration; shortness of breath.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dyspnea>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Every fool has a rainbow But he never seems to find The reward
that should be waiting At the end of the line. But he'll give up a bed
of roses For a hammock filled with thorns And go chasing after
rainbows Every time a dream is born.
--Merle Haggard
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Merle_Haggard>
The Hrabri class consisted of two submarines built for the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The first submarines to
serve in the Royal Yugoslav Navy (KM), they arrived in Yugoslavia on 5
April 1928, and participated in cruises to Mediterranean ports prior to
World War II. During the April 1941 Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, Hrabri
(pictured) was captured by the Italians and later scrapped. Nebojša
escaped to Egypt to join the British Royal Navy (RN). She served as an
anti-submarine warfare training boat and then as a battery charging
station. In May 1942 her crew were removed and placed in a British
military camp following a revolt by Yugoslav generals in exile, and she
received an almost entirely RN crew. She was briefly utilised for
training at Beirut, but was formally handed back to the KM-in-exile in
mid-1943. After the war, she was transferred to the new Yugoslav Navy
and renamed Tara. She was used in a training role until 1954, then
scrapped. (This article is part of a featured topic: Hrabri-class
submarines.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Hrabri-class_submar…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1614:
Pocahontas, a Native American woman, married English colonist
John Rolfe, leading to a period of peace between the Powhatan people and
the inhabitants of Jamestown, Virginia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocahontas>
1944:
Siegfried Lederer, a Czech Jew, escaped from Auschwitz with the
aid of an SS officer who opposed the Holocaust.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_Lederer%27s_escape_from_Auschwitz>
1986:
The Libyan secret service bombed a discotheque in West Berlin,
resulting in three deaths and 229 others injured.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Berlin_discotheque_bombing>
2009:
The North Korean satellite Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 was launched from
the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground and passed over Japan, sparking
concerns it may have been a trial run of technology that could be used
to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwangmy%C5%8Fngs%C5%8Fng-2>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cough:
1. (transitive)
2. Sometimes followed by up: to force (something) out of the lungs or
throat by pushing air from the lungs through the glottis (causing a
short, explosive sound), and out through the mouth.
3. To cause (oneself or something) to be in a certain condition in the
manner described in sense 1.1.
4. To express (words, etc.) in the manner describe in sense 1.1.
5. (figurative)
6. To surrender (information); to confess.
7. (originally US, slang) Chiefly followed by up: to give up or hand
over (something); especially, to pay up (money).
8. (intransitive)
9. To push air from the lungs through the glottis (causing a short,
explosive sound) and out through the mouth, usually to expel something
blocking or irritating the airway.
10. To make a noise like a cough. The engine coughed and sputtered.
11. (originally US, slang) To surrender information; to confess, to
spill the beans.
12. A sudden, often involuntary expulsion of air from the lungs through
the glottis (causing a short, explosive sound), and out through the
mouth.
13. A bout of repeated coughing (verb sense 2.1); also, a medical
condition that causes one to cough.
14. (figurative) A noise or sound like a cough (sense 1).
15. Used to represent the sound of a cough (noun sense 1), especially
when focusing attention on a following utterance, often an attribution
of blame or a euphemism: ahem.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cough>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have a dream where society will replace guns with dictionaries.
--Anu Garg
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anu_Garg>
Marshfield was a rapid transit station on the Chicago "L" in the U.S.
between 1895 and 1954. Originally part of the Metropolitan West Side
Elevated Railroad, it was the westernmost station of the Metropolitan's
main line. West of the station, the main line diverged into three
branches; this junction, served by the station, has been described as
the most complex on the entire Chicago "L" system. After 1905, the
Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad, an interurban line, also served the
station, but limited its service based on direction to avoid competing
with the "L". The lines that had been constructed by the Metropolitan,
including those serving Marshfield, were subject to modifications
planned since the 1930s that incrementally withdrew service from the
station. It fully closed on April 4, 1954, and was demolished shortly
thereafter. The junction Marshfield served was rebuilt in reduced form,
but with a new station on Racine Avenue to the east.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshfield_station>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1081:
The Komnenos dynasty came to full power with the coronation of
Alexios I Komnenos as Byzantine emperor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexios_I_Komnenos>
1859:
Bryant's Minstrels premiered the minstrel song "Dixie" in New
York City as part of their blackface show.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_%28song%29>
1949:
Twelve nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty, establishing
NATO, an international military alliance whereby its member states agree
to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO>
1973:
A year after the completion of the second of the complex's twin
towers, the World Trade Center in New York City was officially
dedicated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center_%281973%E2%80%932001%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
anoxia:
(ecology, pathology) A condition in which a body tissue or an
environment is severely or totally deprived of oxygen; severe hypoxia.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anoxia>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant
goal that we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that
goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.>
Daytona USA is an arcade racing game developed by Sega AM2 and published
by Sega in March 1994. Inspired by the popularity of the NASCAR motor
racing series in the US, the game has players race stock cars on one of
three courses. It was the first arcade game to be released on the Sega
Model 2, an arcade system board which was co-developed by GE Aerospace.
AM2's Toshihiro Nagoshi (pictured) became the game's director and co-
producer. Sega aimed to outperform Namco's Ridge Racer (1993). The
developers researched motorsports extensively and mapped Daytona
International Speedway. Daytona USA was a critical and commercial
success, praised for its graphics, soundtrack and gameplay. A conversion
was made for the Sega Saturn in 1995, and was followed by sequels and
enhancements for consoles and arcades. Daytona USA is one of the
highest-grossing arcade video games ever, and has been frequently named
one of the best video games of all time.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daytona_USA>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1984:
Aboard Soyuz T-11, Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to be
launched into space.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakesh_Sharma>
1996:
A U.S. Air Force CT-43 crashed into a mountainside while
attempting an instrument approach to Dubrovnik Airport in Croatia,
killing all 35 people on board, including Secretary of Commerce Ron
Brown.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Croatia_USAF_CT-43_crash>
2009:
A gunman opened fire at an American Planning and Civic
Association immigration center in Binghamton, New York, U.S., killing
thirteen and wounding four before committing suicide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binghamton_shooting>
2013:
The northeastern section of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina,
experienced several flash floods that killed at least 100 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Argentina_floods>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
the organ grinder, not the monkey:
(idiomatic) Synonym of organ grinder (“the person who is in charge,
rather than a lackey or representative; the person truly responsible for
another's actions”)
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/the_organ_grinder%2C_not_the_monkey>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There is a healthful hardiness about real dignity, that never
dreads contact and communion with others, however humble. It is only
spurious pride that is morbid and sensitive, and shrinks from every
touch.
--Washington Irving
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Washington_Irving>
Morgan Bulkeley (1837–1922) was an American politician and business
executive from Connecticut, who was, in 1876, the first president of
baseball's National League. A Civil War veteran and the son of the first
president of the Aetna Life Insurance Company, Bulkeley also led Aetna,
from 1879 until his death. A Republican, he was from 1880 to 1888 mayor
of Hartford, and starting in 1889 served as governor of Connecticut. He
controversially remained in office for a second two-year term because
the houses of the state legislature could not agree about the outcome of
the 1890 election. A Democratic official locked a door in the State
Capitol against him, and Bulkeley had it opened with a crowbar, thus
becoming "the Crowbar Governor". He left office in 1893, and served as a
U.S. senator from 1905 to 1911. After his death in 1922, a bridge and a
high school were named for him. His induction in 1937 into the Baseball
Hall of Fame remains controversial because his involvement in the game
was brief.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Bulkeley>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1979:
Spores of anthrax were accidentally released from a military
research facility near the city of Sverdlovsk, causing around 100
deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sverdlovsk_anthrax_leak>
1982:
Argentine special forces invaded the Falkland Islands, sparking
the Falklands War against the United Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_invasion_of_the_Falkland_Islands>
1992:
Bosnian War: At least 48 civilians were massacred in the town
of Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bijeljina_massacre>
2012:
A gunman shot at people inside Oikos University, a Korean
Christian college in Oakland, California, leaving seven people dead and
three injured.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Oikos_University_shooting>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys:
(Britain, informal) Offering a low payment or salary will not attract
skilled workers or employees.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/if_you_pay_peanuts%2C_you_get_monkeys>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I will begin with this confession: whatever I have done in the
course of my life, whether it be good or evil, has been done freely; I
am a free agent.
--Giacomo Casanova
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Giacomo_Casanova>
The Order of Brothelyngham was a gang of men who, in mid-14th-century
England, formed themselves into a fake religious order in Exeter, Devon.
Styling themselves as theatrical players, they terrorised, kidnapped and
extorted the locals. They may well have been satirising the church,
which was commonly perceived as corrupt. The group appears to have named
itself after a non-existent place, "Brothelyngham". The name was
probably meant as an allusion to the Order of Sempringham, which was
known to enclose both monks and nuns on the same premises. Members of
the Order of Brothelyngham dressed as monks. They supposedly elected a
madman to rule them as their abbot, possibly from a theatrical stage,
and bore their ruler aloft before them in a mockery of a bishop's
throne. As one of the few such gangs known to modern historians, the
order is considered significant for what it suggests of anticlerical
activities and attitudes in England during the period.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Brothelyngham>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1952:
Israel enacted a citizenship law, prior to which the country
technically had no citizens.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_citizenship_law>
1969:
The Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first operational fighter
aircraft with V/STOL capabilities, entered service with the Royal Air
Force.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Siddeley_Harrier>
2001:
Same-sex marriage in the Netherlands was legalised, with the
country becoming the first to do so.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_the_Netherlands>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
oo oo aa aa:
(onomatopoeia) Used to represent the sound of a monkey's cry.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oo_oo_aa_aa>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is at night that faith in light is admirable.
--Edmond Rostand
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edmond_Rostand>