Nihonium is a synthetic chemical element with symbol Nh and atomic
number 113. It is extremely radioactive; its most stable known isotope,
nihonium-286, has a half-life of about 10 seconds. In the periodic
table, nihonium is a transactinide element at the intersection of
period 7 and group 13. Its creation was reported in 2003 by a
Russian–American collaboration at the Joint Institute for Nuclear
Research in Dubna, Russia, and in 2004 by a team of Japanese scientists
at Riken in Wakō, Japan. The discoveries were confirmed by independent
teams working in the United States, Germany, Sweden, and China. In 2015
the element was officially recognised by the IUPAC/IUPAP Joint Working
Party; naming rights were assigned to Riken, as they were judged to have
been first to confirm their discovery. The name, approved in the same
year (announcement pictured), derives from a Japanese word for Japan,
Nihon. Few details are known about nihonium, as it has only been formed
in very small amounts that decay away within seconds.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihonium>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1864:
A passenger train fell through an open swing bridge into the
Richelieu River near present-day Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, killing as
many as 99 people and injuring 100 others in Canada's worst railway
accident.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beloeil_train_disaster>
1889:
Hyde Park and several other Illinois townships voted to be
annexed by Chicago, forming the largest city by area in the United
States and the second-largest by population.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Park_Township,_Cook_County,_Illinois>
1927:
The United States Army Air Corps aircraft Bird of Paradise
landed at Wheeler Field on the Hawaiian island of Oahu to complete the
first transpacific flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_of_Paradise_%28aircraft%29>
1995:
Atlantis became the first U.S. Space Shuttle to dock with the
Russian space station Mir as part of the Shuttle–Mir program.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle%E2%80%93Mir_program>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sengi:
1. An elephant shrew (family Macroscelididae).
2. (historical) A former (1967–1993) monetary unit of Zaire, one
hundredth of a likuta, and one ten-thousandth of a zaire; it was issued
only in ten sengi coins.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sengi>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know. But this election is
still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his
entire life and someone who only cares about himself. Between someone
who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the
American people straight — and someone who lies through his teeth for
his own benefit. Last night didn’t change that, and it’s why so much
is at stake in November.
--Barack Obama
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>
"Well he would, wouldn't he?" is an aphorism that is commonly used as a
retort to a self-interested denial. It was said by the model Mandy Rice-
Davies (pictured) while giving evidence at the 1963 trial of Stephen
Ward, who had been accused of living off money paid to Rice-Davies and
her friend Christine Keeler for sex: part of the larger Profumo affair.
While being cross-examined Rice-Davies was told that Lord Astor, who
owned the Cliveden estate on which Ward rented a cottage, had denied an
affair with her; she replied: "Well he would, wouldn't he?" Political,
communications and psychological experts have interpreted it as a phrase
which indicates the speaker believes a person is making a self-
interested, obvious or irrelevant denial. They have also stated it
functions as a retort to mistruths made by public figures.
Linguistically, it has been noted for its use of the modal verb would to
create rhetorical effect. The phrase has been included in The Oxford
Dictionary of Quotations since 1979.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_he_would,_wouldn%27t_he%3F>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1904:
In the worst maritime disaster involving a Danish merchant
ship, SS Norge ran aground on Hasselwood Rock and sank in the North
Atlantic, resulting in more than 635 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Norge>
1914:
Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of
Hohenberg, were assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a Yugoslav
nationalist, sparking the outbreak of World War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavrilo_Princip>
1969:
In response to a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York
City, groups of gay and transgender people began demonstrations, a
watershed event for the worldwide gay rights movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots>
1989:
President Slobodan Milošević gave a speech at Gazimestan in
which he described the possibility of "armed battles" in the future of
Serbia's national development.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazimestan_speech>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bisexual lighting:
(LGBT, often art, film, television) The simultaneous use of pink,
purple, and blue lighting, often to indicate bisexuality.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bisexual_lighting>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The red rose whispers of passion, And the white rose
breathes of love;O, the red rose is a falcon,And the white rose is a
dove.But I send you a cream-white rosebudWith a flush on its petal
tips,For the love that is purest and sweetestHas a kiss of desire on the
lips.
--John Boyle O'Reilly
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Boyle_O%27Reilly>
Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) was an English author who wrote 34 novels,
7 volumes of short stories and a daily journal of more than a million
words. He also wrote or co-wrote 13 plays, wrote articles and stories
for more than 100 newspapers and periodicals, worked in and briefly ran
the UK's Ministry of Information in the First World War, and wrote for
the cinema in the 1920s. He was the most financially successful British
author of his day. Because his books appealed to a wide public rather
than to literary cliques and élites, and for his adherence to realism,
Virginia Woolf and other writers and supporters of the modernist school
belittled him, and his fiction became neglected after his death. Studies
of his writing since the 1970s have led to a re-evaluation of Bennett's
work, and his finest novels, including Anna of the Five Towns (1902),
The Old Wives' Tale (1908), Clayhanger (1910) and Riceyman Steps (1923),
are now widely recognised as major works.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Bennett>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1899:
A. E. J. Collins scored 628 runs not out, the highest
recorded score in cricket until being surpassed in 2016.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._J._Collins>
1954:
Jacobo Árbenz resigned as President of Guatemala following a
CIA-led coup against his administration.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
1957:
Hurricane Audrey made landfall near the Texas–Louisiana
border, killing over 400 people, mainly in and around Cameron,
Louisiana, U.S.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Audrey>
2017:
Websites of Ukrainian organizations were swamped by a massive
cyberattack, blamed on Russian military hackers, using the malware
Petya.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petya_%28malware_family%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
prior:
1. (Christianity) A high-ranking member of a religious house or
religious order.
2. In an abbey, the person ranking just after the abbot, appointed as
his deputy; a prior claustral.
3. The head of a priory (“a monastery which is usually a branch of an
abbey”), or some other minor or smaller monastery; a prior conventual.
4. The head friar of a house of friars.
5. The head of the Arrouaisian, Augustinian, and formerly
Premonstratensian religious orders.
6. An honorary position held by a priest in some cathedrals.
7. (historical)
8. A chief magistrate of the Republic of Florence (1115–1569) in what is
now Italy.
9. The elected head of a guild of craftsmen or merchants in some
countries in Europe and South America.
10. (obsolete)
11. A person who is the earliest or most prominent in a field; the
chief.
12. (business) The head of a company. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prior>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To-day is the parent of to-morrow. The present casts its shadow
far into the future. That is the law of life, individual and social.
Revolution that divests itself of ethical values thereby lays the
foundation of injustice, deceit, and oppression for the future society.
The means used to prepare the future become its cornerstone.
--Emma Goldman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emma_Goldman>
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a
person for various reasons, including punishment, extracting a
confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third
parties. Some definitions of torture are restricted to acts carried out
by the state, but others include non-state organizations. A variety of
methods of torture are used, including psychological methods to provide
deniability. Beating is the most common form of physical torture. Most
victims of torture are poor and marginalized people suspected of crimes,
although torture against political prisoners or during armed conflict
has received disproportionate attention. Torture is prohibited under
international law for all states under all circumstances and is
explicitly forbidden by several treaties. Opposition to torture
stimulated the formation of the human rights movement after World
War II, and torture continues to be an important human rights issue.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1844:
Julia Gardiner married President John Tyler at the Church of
the Ascension in New York, becoming the first lady of the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Gardiner_Tyler>
1889:
Bangui, the capital and largest city of the present-day Central
African Republic, was founded in French Congo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangui>
1907:
Organized by Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, among others,
Bolshevik revolutionaries robbed a bank stagecoach in Tiflis, present-
day Georgia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1907_Tiflis_bank_robbery>
1997:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first book in the
Harry Potter series of fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling, was published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher%27s_Stone>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
distance:
1. (transitive)
2. Often followed by from: to set (someone or something) at a distance
(noun sense 1.1) from someone or something else.
3. To cause (a place, a thing, etc.) to seem distant, or (figurative)
unfamiliar.
4. To leave behind (someone or something moving in the same direction;
specifically, other competitors in a race) some distance away; to
outpace, to outstrip.
5. (figurative)
6. To keep (someone) emotionally or socially apart from another person
or people.
7. To exceed or surpass (someone, such as a peer or rival); to outdo, to
outstrip.
8. (reflexive) To keep (oneself) away from someone or something,
especially because one does not want to be associated with that person
or thing.
9. (chiefly US, horse racing, archaic) Of a racehorse: to beat (another
horse) by a certain distance; also (passive voice), to cause (a horse)
to be disqualified by beating it by a certain distance.
10. (obsolete)
11. To cover the entire distance to (something).
12. To depart from (a place); to leave (a place) behind.
13. To indicate or measure the distance to (a place).
14. To set (two or more things) at regular distances from each other; to
space, to space out.
15. (intransitive, reflexive) Often followed by from.
16. To set oneself at a distance from someone or something else; to move
away from someone or something.
17. (figurative) To keep oneself emotionally or socially apart from
another person or people; to keep one's distance. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/distance>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Man should possess an infinite appetite for life. It should be
self-evident to him, all the time, that life is superb, glorious,
endlessly rich, infinitely desirable. At present, because he is in a
midway position between the brute and the truly human, he is always
getting bored, depressed, weary of life. He has become so top-heavy with
civilisation that he cannot contact the springs of pure vitality.
--Colin Wilson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Colin_Wilson>
Mckenna Grace (born June 25, 2006) is an American actress. She began
her career at the age of five, making her onscreen debut in the sitcom
Crash & Bernstein (2012–2014). In 2017, she starred as a child prodigy
in the drama film Gifted, a breakthrough for which she received a
nomination for a Critics' Choice Movie Awards. Grace subsequently
appeared in the films I, Tonya (2017), Troop Zero (2019), and Captain
Marvel (2019). During this time, she appeared in several horror
projects, including The Bad Seed (2018), The Haunting of Hill House
(2018), and Annabelle Comes Home (2019). For playing an abused teenager
in The Handmaid's Tale (2021–2022), Grace was nominated for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
She garnered further recognition for her appearances in the supernatural
comedy films Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Ghostbusters: Frozen
Empire (2024), and portrayed Jan Broberg in the miniseries A Friend of
the Family (2022).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mckenna_Grace>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1910:
The United States Congress passed the Mann Act, which
prohibited the interstate transport of females for "immoral purposes".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_Act>
1944:
World War II: U.S. Navy and Royal Navy ships bombarded
Cherbourg, France, to support U.S. Army units engaged in the Battle of
Cherbourg.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Cherbourg>
1950:
The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 82
condemning the North Korean invasion of South Korea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_82>
2009:
Singer Michael Jackson died as a result of the combination of
drugs in his body.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Michael_Jackson>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
plain sailing:
1. (nautical)
2. The navigation of waters free from hazards or unfavourable winds.
3. Obsolete spelling of plane sailing (“a technique for navigation using
the assumption that the journey occurs over a plane or flat surface
rather than the actual curved surface of the Earth, which is
sufficiently accurate over short distances”).
4. (figurative) Something that is easy, simple, or straightforward;
something that offers no difficulties or trouble.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plain_sailing>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The past is a curious thing. It's with you all the time. I
suppose an hour never passes without your thinking of things that
happened ten or twenty years ago, and yet most of the time it's got no
reality, it's just a set of facts that you've learned, like a lot of
stuff in a history book. Then some chance sight or sound or smell,
especially smell, sets you going, and the past doesn't merely come back
to you, you're actually in the past.
--George Orwell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Orwell>
1
0
June 24: Etika
by English Wikipedia Article of the Day
24 Jun '24
24 Jun '24
Desmond Daniel Amofah (1990–2019), known as Etika, was an American
YouTuber and live streamer, known online for his enthusiastic reactions
to Super Smash Bros. character trailers and Nintendo Direct
presentations. The son of Ghanaian politician Owuraku Amofah, he resided
in Brooklyn. Starting his online career in 2007, Amofah created his main
YouTube channel, EWNetwork (Etika World Network), in 2012. He garnered
popularity following the release of Super Smash Bros. 4, primarily
stemming from his reaction videos of news surrounding the game.
Beginning in October 2018, Amofah showed signs of mental distress, and
was reported missing on June 20, 2019. Officials confirmed his death on
June 25, finding it to be a suicide by drowning. His death was met with
shock and grief by fans and fellow YouTubers, with many commenting that
Amofah's mental deterioration had been dismissed or ignored. Numerous
commemorations were held to honor Amofah, including fan-made memorials
and murals.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etika>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1717:
The first Grand Lodge of Freemasonry, the Premier Grand Lodge
of England, was founded in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_Grand_Lodge_of_England>
1724:
On the Feast of St. John the Baptist, Bach led the first
performance of Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam, BWV 7, the third
cantata of his chorale cantata cycle.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_unser_Herr_zum_Jordan_kam,_BWV_7>
1943:
Amid racial tensions, U.S. Army military police shot and killed
a black serviceman after a confrontation at a pub in Bamber Bridge,
England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bamber_Bridge>
2010:
Julia Gillard was sworn in as the first female prime minister
of Australia after incumbent Kevin Rudd declined to contest a leadership
spill in the Labor Party.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Gillard>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cochineal:
1. (countable) A scale insect of the species Dactylopius coccus, native
to the tropical and subtropical Americas, which lives on prickly pear
cacti (genus Opuntia).
2. (uncountable) A vivid red dye made from the dried bodies of cochineal
insects.
3. (uncountable) The vivid red colour of this dye. cochineal:
4. Possessing a vivid red colour, as or as if produced from dyeing with
cochineal dye (noun sense 2).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cochineal>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Past, n. That part of Eternity with some small fraction of which
we have a slight and regrettable acquaintance. A moving line called the
Present parts it from an imaginary period known as the Future. These two
grand divisions of Eternity, of which the one is continually effacing
the other, are entirely unlike. The one is dark with sorrow and
disappointment, the other bright with prosperity and joy. The Past is
the region of sobs, the Future is the realm of song. In the one crouches
Memory, clad in sackcloth and ashes, mumbling penitential prayer; in the
sunshine of the other Hope flies with a free wing, beckoning to temples
of success and bowers of ease. Yet the Past is the Future of yesterday,
the Future is the Past of to-morrow. They are one — the knowledge and
the dream.
--Ambrose Bierce
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce>
Cyclone Taylor (June 23, 1884 – June 9, 1979) was a Canadian
professional ice hockey player and civil servant. Born and raised in
Southern Ontario, Taylor moved to Houghton, Michigan, and played in the
International Hockey League for two years. He then joined the Ottawa
Senators, winning the Stanley Cup with the team in his second year.
While in Ottawa he began working as an immigration clerk. Two years
later he signed with the Renfrew Creamery Kings, becoming the highest-
paid athlete in the world on a per-game basis. He then played for the
Vancouver Millionaires until 1922, where he won five scoring
championships and his second Stanley Cup victory with the team. In 1914
Taylor was the first Canadian official to board the Komagata Maru, a
major incident relating to Canadian immigration. In 1946 he was named a
member of the Order of the British Empire for his services as an
immigration officer and inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Taylor>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1894:
Led by French historian Pierre de Coubertin, an international
congress at the Sorbonne in Paris formed the International Olympic
Committee to revive the ancient Olympic Games.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_de_Coubertin>
1944:
The Holocaust: After a closely supervised visit to
Theresienstadt Ghetto in German-occupied Czechoslovakia, Red Cross
official Maurice Rossel reported that conditions there were "almost
normal".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Rossel>
2014:
Under the terms of UN Security Council Resolution 2118, the
last of Syria's declared chemical weapons were shipped out for
destruction.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_Syria%27s_chemical_weapons>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
wigglesome:
(informal) Characterized or marked by wiggling.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wigglesome>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I go forth to seek — To seek and claim the lovely magic garden
Where grasses softly sigh and Muses speak.
--Anna Akhmatova
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anna_Akhmatova>
Capri-Sun is a brand of juice concentrate–based drinks manufactured
by the German company Wild and regional licensees. Rudolf Wild invented
the drink in 1969 and introduced it in West Germany as Capri-Sonne. It
is now sold in more than 100 countries, with licensees including Kraft
Foods in the United States and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners in parts
of Europe. It is one of the most popular juice brands in the world, with
orange its best-known flavor. As of 2023, roughly 6 billion pouches are
sold per year globally, packaged in laminated foil vacuum Doy-N-Pack
pouches, with which the brand has become strongly associated. Capri-
Sun's main products are high in sugar, although lower than many
competitors. Marketing to children and use of the term "all-natural"
have led to conflict in several countries. It is one of the most
favorably rated brands among Generation Z Americans; in France, it
figures prominently in rap music.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capri-Sun>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1911:
King George V and Queen Mary (both pictured) were crowned at
Westminster Abbey in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_of_Teck>
1941:
World War II: As Axis troops began their invasion of the
Soviet Union, the Lithuanian Activist Front started an uprising to
liberate Lithuania from Soviet occupation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Uprising_in_Lithuania>
1979:
Former British Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe was acquitted
of conspiracy to murder Norman Scott, who had accused Thorpe of having a
relationship with him.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorpe_affair>
2002:
A magnitude-6.5 earthquake struck northwestern Iran, killing at
least 230 people and injuring 1,300 others; the official response,
perceived to be slow, later caused widespread public anger.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Bou%27in-Zahra_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
heft:
1. (uncountable)
2. The feel of the weight of something; heaviness.
3. (dated except UK, dialectal and US) The force exerted by an object
due to gravitation; weight.
4. (figurative) Graveness, seriousness; gravity.
5. (figurative) Importance, influence; weight.
6. (US, informal, dated) The greater part of something; the bulk, the
mass.
7. (countable)
8. (UK, dialectal) An act of lifting; a lift.
9. (obsolete) An act of heaving (lifting with difficulty); an instance
of violent exertion or straining. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heft>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I’m really hoping that in some movie I’m doing, I die — but
I die, me, Donald — and they’re able to use my funeral and the
coffin … That would be absolutely ideal. I would love that.
--Donald Sutherland
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donald_Sutherland>
The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus
Giraffa. It is known for its extremely long neck and legs, its horn-like
ossicones, and its spotted coat patterns. Traditionally, giraffes have
been thought of as one species, but more recent evidence has proposed
dividing them into multiple species. Giraffes usually inhabit savannahs
and woodlands. Their food source is leaves, fruits, and flowers of woody
plants, primarily acacia species, which they browse at heights most
other herbivores cannot reach. Giraffes live in herds of related females
and their offspring or bachelor herds of unrelated adult males, but are
gregarious and may gather in large aggregations. Females bear sole
responsibility for rearing the young. Giraffes have been featured in
paintings, books, and cartoons. Giraffes are assessed as vulnerable to
extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. They
are found in numerous national parks and game reserves.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffe>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1848:
In the Wallachian Revolution, Ion Heliade Rădulescu and
Christian Tell proclaimed a new republican government in present-day
Romania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallachian_Revolution_of_1848>
1898:
In a bloodless event during the Spanish–American War, the
United States captured Guam from Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Guam>
1919:
During a general strike in Winnipeg, Canada, members of the
Royal North-West Mounted Police attacked a crowd of strikers, armed with
clubs and revolvers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg_general_strike>
1948:
The Manchester Baby (replica pictured), the world's first
stored-program computer, ran its first program.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Baby>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
face the music:
(idiomatic) To accept or confront the unpleasant consequences of one's
actions.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/face_the_music>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I wasn't the best hitter, Ted Williams was. I wasn't the best
fielder, Roberto Clemente was. I wasn't the best base stealer, Maury
Wills was. But I was among the best in everything.
--Willie Mays
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willie_Mays>
Hiyō (Flying Hawk) was the name ship of her class of two aircraft
carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Begun as the ocean liner Izumo
Maru in 1939, she was purchased by the Navy Ministry in 1941 for
conversion to an aircraft carrier. Completed shortly after the Battle of
Midway in June 1942, she participated in the Guadalcanal campaign, but
missed the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October because of an
electrical generator fire. The carrier's aircraft were disembarked
several times and used from land bases in battles in the South West
Pacific. Hiyō was torpedoed in mid-1943 and spent three months under
repair. She spent most of the next six months training and ferrying
aircraft before returning to combat. She was sunk by a gasoline-vapour
explosion caused by an American torpedo hit during the Battle of the
Philippine Sea on 20 June 1944 with the loss of 247 officers and
ratings, about a fifth of her complement. (This article is part of a
featured topic: Hiyō class aircraft carrier.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Hiy%C5%8D_class_air…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1921:
British Army officer Thomas Stanton Lambert was assassinated by
the Irish Republican Army near Moydrum, Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Stanton_Lambert>
1959:
The extratropical remnants of an Atlantic hurricane reached the
Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada, causing 22 fishing boats to capsize and
killing 35 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959_Escuminac_disaster>
1979:
Bill Stewart, an American journalist, was executed by
Nicaraguan Guardia forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Stewart_%28journalist%29>
1982:
The International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide, the
first major conference in genocide studies, opened despite Turkish
attempts to cancel it due to the inclusion of presentations on the
Armenian genocide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Conference_on_the_Holocaust_and…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
take French leave:
1. To leave quietly and unnoticed, without asking for permission or
informing anyone; to slip out.
2. (specifically, chiefly military, euphemistic) To desert or be
temporarily absent from duty or service without permission; to go absent
without leave or AWOL.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/take_French_leave>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
June with her glancing grasses, June with a smiling
sky,June, brown as the country lasses Or wings of the dragon-fly!The
mown hay lies like sedges Or weed of the seashore strewn;Abrim with
corn to the hedges The fields are filled in June.
--Walter Headlam
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_Headlam>
The 1964 European Nations' Cup final was held at the Santiago Bernabéu
Stadium (pictured) in Madrid on 21 June 1964 to decide the winner of
the 1964 European Nations' Cup (now the UEFA European Football
Championship). The match was contested by Spain and the Soviet Union,
the defending champions. En route to the final, Spain defeated Romania,
Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland over two-legged ties before
beating Hungary in the semi-final. The Soviet Union received a bye in
the qualifying round before beating Italy, Sweden and Denmark. In the
sixth minute, Marcelino dispossessed Valentin Ivanov and crossed for
Chus Pereda, who scored to give Spain a 1–0 lead. Two minutes later,
Viktor Anichkin passed to Galimzyan Khusainov, who equalised. With six
minutes remaining, Pereda beat Anichkin and played in a cross which
Viktor Shustikov failed to clear, before Marcelino headed the winning
goal inside the near post. Spain won 2–1 to claim their first European
Championship title.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_European_Nations%27_Cup_final>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1838:
The Maryland province of the Jesuits contracted to sell 272
slaves to buyers in Louisiana in one of the largest slave sales in
American history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1838_Jesuit_slave_sale>
1939:
American baseball player Lou Gehrig was diagnosed with
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, now commonly known in the United States
as "Lou Gehrig's disease".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Gehrig>
1987:
The Basque separatist group ETA detonated a car bomb at a
Hipercor shopping centre in Barcelona, killing 21 people and injuring 45
others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipercor_bombing>
2009:
War in Afghanistan: British forces began Operation Panther's
Claw, in which more than 350 troops made an aerial assault on Taliban
positions in southern Afghanistan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Panther%27s_Claw>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
shackle:
1. (transitive)
2. To place (a person or animal) in shackles (noun sense 1); to
immobilize or restrain using shackles.
3. To connect or couple (something) to another thing using a shackle
(noun sense 1.1.1, sense 1.1.2, etc.).
4. To provide (something) with a shackle.
5. (figurative)
6. To inhibit or restrain the ability, action, activity, or progress of
(someone or something); to render (someone or something) incapable or
ineffectual.
7. (chemistry, obsolete) To combine (a substance) with another
substance.
8. (intransitive, reflexive) Of two things: to connect or couple
together. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shackle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Irresponsibility is part of the pleasure of all art; it is the
part the schools cannot recognize.
--Pauline Kael
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pauline_Kael>
A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star
nor a stellar remnant. The Solar System has eight (pictured): four
terrestrial planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars; and four giant
planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The term "planet" at first
included the Sun, Moon and the five naked-eye planets that move across
the background of the stars; they were seen as having associations with
the gods. Copernicus theorized the Earth was a planet and, like the
others, orbited the Sun. "Planet" came to include many objects, such
as moons, within and beyond the Solar System. The International
Astronomical Union in 2006 defined a planet in the Solar System to have
cleared its neighborhood of other bodies, and that extrasolar planets
should orbit stars and not be large enough to support deuterium fusion.
Many planetary scientists, though, still apply the word "planet" more
broadly, including dwarf planets, planetary-mass moons, rogue planets
and brown dwarfs.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1958:
English composer Benjamin Britten's one-act opera Noye's Fludde
was premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noye%27s_Fludde>
1981:
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational aircraft to
be designed around stealth technology, made its maiden flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-117_Nighthawk>
1994:
The Troubles: Ulster Volunteer Force members attacked a crowded
bar in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland, with assault rifles, killing six
people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loughinisland_massacre>
2009:
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA's first mission to the
Moon in more than ten years, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Reconnaissance_Orbiter>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
savour:
1. (countable) An aroma or smell.
2. (uncountable) The quality which the sense of taste detects; also
(countable), a specific flavour or taste, especially one different from
the predominant one.
3. (countable, chiefly in the negative) An appealing or appetizing
flavour, especially one which is savoury or strong.
4. (figurative)
5. (countable) A distinctive sensation like a flavour or taste, or an
aroma or smell.
6. (countable) A particular quality, especially a small amount of it; a
hint or trace of something.
7. (countable, chiefly in the negative) A quality which is appealing or
enjoyable; merit, value.
8. (countable, archaic) A reputation.
9. (uncountable) Enjoyment or taste for something; appreciation;
pleasure; relish; (countable) an instance of this.
10. (uncountable, obsolete) Knowledge; understanding. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/savour>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have no patience for churches that evangelize aggressively. I
have no interest in being instructed in what I must do to be saved. I
prefer vertical prayer, directed up toward heaven, rather than
horizontal prayer, directed sideways toward me. I believe a worthy
church must grow through attraction, not promotion. I am wary of
zealotry; even as a child I was suspicious of those who, as I often
heard, were “more Catholic than the pope.” If we are to love our
neighbors as ourselves, we must regard their beliefs with the same
respect our own deserve.
--Roger Ebert
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Ebert>
The Icelandic horse is a breed of horse developed in Iceland. Developed
from ponies brought to Iceland by Norse settlers in the 9th and 10th
centuries, the breed is mentioned in Icelandic literature and historical
records. They are long-lived, hardy, and have few diseases in their
country. In addition to the gaits typical of other horse breeds, many
Icelandic horses can also do the tölt (pictured) and the flying pace.
The only breed of horse in Iceland, sizable populations exist in Europe
and North America. They are used for sheepherding work in Iceland,
leisure, showing, and racing. Selective breeding and natural selection
with the Icelandic climate developed them into their current form. In
the 1780s, much of the breed was killed after a volcanic eruption at
Laki. The first breed society for the Icelandic horse was created in
Iceland in 1904; the breed is now represented by organizations in 19
nations, under the auspices of the International Federation of Icelandic
Horse Associations.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_horse>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1631:
Mumtaz Mahal, wife of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, died in
childbirth; Jahan spent the next seventeen years constructing her
mausoleum, the Taj Mahal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal>
1919:
Hundreds of Canadian soldiers rioted in Epsom, England,
leading to the death of a British police officer.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsom_riot>
1952:
Guatemalan Revolution: The Guatemalan Congress passed
Decree 900, redistributing unused land greater than 224 acres
(0.91 km2) in area to local peasants.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decree_900>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fatwa:
1. (Islam)
2. A formal legal decree, opinion, or ruling issued by a mufti or other
Islamic judicial authority.
3. (by extension, loosely, erroneous) A decree issued by a mufti or
other Islamic judicial authority that a person should be put to death,
usually as punishment for committing apostasy or blasphemy.
4. (religion, by extension) A formal decree or ruling, or statement,
issued by an authority of a religion other than Islam.
5. (figurative, informal) An emphatic decree or opinion, especially one
which condemns or criticizes.
6. (transitive, rare) To issue a fatwa (noun sense 1) against (someone);
specifically (loosely, erroneous), a fatwa imposing a ban or a death
sentence.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fatwa>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
New weapons require new tactics. Never put new wine into old
bottles.
--Heinz Guderian
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heinz_Guderian>
Whisky Galore! is a British comedy film produced by Ealing Studios and
released on 16 June 1949, starring Basil Radford, Bruce Seton, Joan
Greenwood and Gordon Jackson. The directorial debut of Alexander
Mackendrick, it was based on the 1947 novel Whisky Galore by Compton
Mackenzie (pictured), and written by Mackenzie and Angus MacPhail.
Inspired by the 1941 wreck of the SS Politician, the story concerns a
shipwreck off a fictional Scottish island. The islanders, who have run
out of whisky because of wartime rationing, salvage cases of it from the
ship, against the opposition of the local Customs and Excise men. Like
other Ealing comedies, Whisky Galore! explores the actions of a small
group facing and overcoming a more powerful opponent. The film was well
received on release; renamed Tight Little Island, it became the first
film from the studios to achieve box office success in the US. It was
followed by Rockets Galore!, a sequel. A remake was released in 2016.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisky_Galore!_%281949_film%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1819:
A strong earthquake in the Kutch district of Gujarat, India,
caused a local zone of uplift that dammed the Nara River, which was
later named the Allah Bund ('Dam of God').
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1819_Rann_of_Kutch_earthquake>
1904:
Irish author James Joyce began a relationship with Nora
Barnacle, and subsequently used the date to set the actions for his 1922
novel Ulysses, commemorated as Bloomsday.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce>
1936:
A Junkers Ju 52 aircraft of Norwegian Air Lines crashed into a
mountainside near Hyllestad, Norway, killing all seven people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hav%C3%B8rn_Accident>
1997:
The English rock band Radiohead released their landmark third
album OK Computer.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_Computer>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sacrifice:
1. (religion)
2. Originally, the killing (and often burning) of a human being or an
animal as an offering to a deity; later, also the offering of an object
to a deity.
3. A human being or an animal, or a physical object or immaterial thing
(see sense 1.3), offered to a deity.
4. (figurative) The offering of devotion, penitence, prayer,
thanksgiving, etc., to a deity.
5. (Christianity, specifically)
6. Jesus Christ's voluntary offering of himself to God the Father to be
crucified as atonement for the sins of humankind.
7. (by extension) The rite of Holy Communion or the Mass, regarded as
(Protestantism) an offering of thanksgiving to God for Christ's
crucifixion, or (Roman Catholicism) a perpetual re-enactment of Christ's
sacrificial offering.
8. (figurative)
9. The destruction or surrender of anything for the sake of something
else regarded as more urgent or valuable; also, the thing destroyed or
surrendered for this purpose.
10. (baseball) Short for sacrifice bunt or sacrifice hit (“a play in
which the batter intentionally hits the ball softly with a hands-spread
batting stance at the cost of an out to advance one or more runners”)
11. (bridge) In full sacrifice bid: a bid of a contract which is
unlikely to be fulfilled, that a player makes in the hope that they will
incur fewer penalty points than the points likely to be gained by
opponents in making their contract.
12. (business, slang, dated) A monetary loss incurred by selling
something at less than its value; also, the thing thus sold.
13. (chess) An act of intentionally allowing one's piece to be captured
by the opponent in order to improve one's position in the game. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sacrifice>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Our national epic has yet to be written.
--Ulysses
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ulysses>
Kevin Gately died on 15 June 1974 as the result of a head injury
received in the Red Lion Square public disorder in London while
protesting against the National Front, a far-right, British fascist
party. Gately, a 20-year-old student, was not a member of any
organisation. On 15 June, the National Front held a march through
central London in support of the expulsion of immigrants. A counter-
demonstration was planned by Liberation, an anti-colonial pressure
group. When the Liberation march reached Red Lion Square, the
International Marxist Group twice charged the police cordon blocking
access to Conway Hall (pictured). Police reinforcements forced the
demonstrators out of the square. Gately was found unconscious on the
ground. He was taken to hospital and died later that day. A public
inquiry into the events was conducted by Lord Scarman, who found no
evidence that Gately had been killed by the police, although he found
fault with some police actions. There was further violence associated
with National Front marches and the counter-demonstrations they faced,
including in Birmingham, Manchester, and the East End of London (all in
1977), and in Southall in 1979, which led to the death of Blair Peach.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Kevin_Gately>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1800:
War of the Second Coalition: The signing of the Convention of
Alessandria brought temporary peace between France and Austria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_of_Alessandria>
1878:
Eadweard Muybridge took a series of photographs to prove that
all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it gallops (animation
pictured), which became the basis of motion pictures.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Horse_in_Motion>
1944:
World War II: The United States Army Air Forces began its
first air raid on the Japanese archipelago, although little damage was
caused.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Yawata_%28June_1944%29>
1996:
The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a
truck bomb in the commercial centre of Manchester, England, injuring
more than 200 people and causing widespread damage to buildings.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Manchester_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
come to papa:
(idiomatic, originally US) Used to encourage someone or something to
approach, or an event to occur.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/come_to_papa>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have a mistress, for perfections rareIn every eye, but in my
thoughts most fair.Like tapers on the altar shine her eyes;Her breath is
the perfume of sacrifice;And wheresoe’er my fancy would begin,Still
her perfection lets religion in.We sit and talk, and kiss away the
hoursAs chastely as the morning dews kiss flowers:I touch her, like my
beads, with devout care,And come unto my courtship as my prayer.
--Thomas Randolph
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Randolph_%28poet%29>
The Spider was an American pulp magazine published by Popular
Publications from 1933 to 1943. Every issue included a lead novel
featuring the Spider, a heroic crime-fighter. The novels in the first
two issues were written by R. T. M. Scott; thereafter every lead novel
was credited to "Grant Stockbridge", a house name. Norvell Page, a
prolific pulp author, wrote most of these. Unlike some contemporary pulp
heroes, The Spider was willing to kill criminals, and when he did so he
left a red spider inked on his victims. Page in particular wrote stories
with violent storylines, often with science-fiction plot devices.
Continuity from novel to novel was often disregarded, with characters
killed in one issue appearing unscathed in later issues. Each magazine
also featured short stories, occasionally including elements of horror
fiction. Most of the cover art was painted by John Newton Howitt or
Rafael de Soto. The magazine was cancelled in 1943 due to a paper
shortage caused by World War II.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spider_%28magazine%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1644:
First English Civil War: Prince Maurice abandoned his siege of
Lyme Regis in Dorset after learning of the approach of a Parliamentarian
relief force.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Lyme_Regis>
1934:
The landmark Australian Eastern Mission concluded after a
three-month diplomatic tour of East and South-East Asia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Eastern_Mission>
2014:
War in Donbas: An Ilyushin Il-76 transport aircraft of the
Ukrainian Air Force was shot down by forces of the self-proclaimed
Luhansk People's Republic, killing all 49 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Ukrainian_Air_Force_Il-76_shootdown>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
acrasia:
(archaic, rare) Lack of self-control; excess, intemperance; also,
irregular or unruly behaviour. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/acrasia>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I made America great again, and I may have to do it again.
--Donald Trump
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donald_Trump>
The Battle of Villers-Bocage took place in Normandy, France, on 13 June
1944 during World War II. Following the D-Day landings on 6 June, the
Germans established defences in front of Caen. The British attacked to
attempt to exploit a gap in the German defences west of the city. They
reached Villers-Bocage without incident in the morning but were ambushed
by Tiger I tanks as they left the town and numerous tanks, anti-tank
guns and transport vehicles were destroyed. The Germans then attacked
the town but were repulsed. The British withdrew west of Villers-Bocage
that evening and repulsed another attack the next day. The British
conduct in the battle was controversial because their withdrawal marked
the end of the post–D-Day "scramble for ground" and the start of an
attritional battle for Caen. Some historians wrote that the British
attack was a failure caused by a lack of conviction among some senior
commanders; others judged the British force to be insufficiently strong
for the task.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Villers-Bocage>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1881:
The Jeannette expedition to reach the North Pole from the
Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait came to an end when the
USS Jeannette was finally crushed and sank after having been trapped in
ice for almost two years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Jeannette_%281878%29>
1952:
Soviet aircraft shot down a Swedish military plane carrying out
signals-intelligence gathering operations, followed three days later by
the shootdown of a second plane searching for the first one.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalina_affair>
1969:
Preston Smith, Governor of Texas, signed a law converting a
research arm of Texas Instruments into the University of Texas at
Dallas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_at_Dallas>
2013:
Some of the closest advisors and collaborators of Czech prime
minister Petr Nečas were arrested for corruption.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Czech_political_corruption_scandal>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hard-won:
Having been obtained with effort, despite difficulty and hardship.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hard-won>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather
about us that they may see, it may be, their own images, and so live for
a moment with a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life because of our
quiet.
--William Butler Yeats
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Butler_Yeats>
Incapillo is a Pleistocene-age caldera – a depression formed by the
collapse of a volcano – in La Rioja Province, Argentina. It is part
of the southernmost volcanic centre in the Andean Central Volcanic Zone
(CVZ). Subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American Plate is
responsible for most of the volcanism in the CVZ. Volcanism commenced in
the Incapillo region 6.5 million years ago, forming the high volcanic
edifices of Monte Pissis, Cerro Bonete Chico and Sierra de Veladero.
Incapillo is known to have erupted the Incapillo ignimbrite 0.52
± 0.03 and 0.51 ± 0.04 million years ago; this has a total volume
of about 20.4 cubic kilometres (4.9 cu mi). A caldera with dimensions
of 5 by 6 kilometres (3.1 mi × 3.7 mi) formed during the eruptions.
Later volcanism generated more lava domes within the caldera and a
debris flow in the Sierra de Veladero. The lake within the caldera may
overlie an area of ongoing hydrothermal activity..
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrothermal_circulation>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1864:
Union general Ulysses S. Grant pulled his troops out of the
Battle of Cold Harbor in Hanover County, Virginia, ending one of the
bloodiest, most lopsided battles in the American Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cold_Harbor>
1914:
As part of the Ottoman Empire's policies of ethnic cleansing,
Turkish irregulars began a six-day massacre in the predominantly Greek
town of Phocaea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_Phocaea>
1954:
Dominic Savio, who was 14 years old at his death in 1857, was
canonized by Pope Pius XII, making him one of the youngest non-martyred
saints in the Catholic Church.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Savio>
1994:
The Boeing 777, the world's largest twinjet, made its maiden
flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_777>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tin-pot dictator:
(derogatory) An autocratic ruler with little political credibility,
typically having delusions of grandeur.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tin-pot_dictator>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Hold on yet awhile. More ways of killing a cat than choking
her with cream.
--Charles Kingsley
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Kingsley>
Marasmius rotula, the pinwheel mushroom, is a fungus in the family
Marasmiaceae. Widespread in the Northern Hemisphere, it was first
described scientifically in 1772 by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli. The
mushrooms are characterized by thin whitish caps up to 2.0 cm (0.8 in)
wide that are sunken in the center and pleated with scalloped margins.
The wiry black hollow stalks measure up to 8.0 cm (3.1 in) long by
1.5 mm (0.06 in) thick. On the underside of the caps are widely spaced
white gills, attached to a collar encircling the stalk. The mushrooms
grow in groups or clusters on decaying wood such as moss-covered logs
and stumps. Spore release is dependent upon sufficient moisture. Dried
mushrooms may revive after rehydrating and release spores for up to
three weeks, much longer than most gilled mushrooms. Although the
mushrooms are not generally considered edible, they produce a unique
peroxidase enzyme that is attracting research interest for use in
bioengineering applications.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marasmius_rotula>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1786:
Ten days after being formed by an earthquake, a landslide dam
on the Dadu River in China was destroyed by an aftershock, causing a
flood that killed an estimated 100,000 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1786_Kangding-Luding_earthquake>
1861:
American Civil War: The Confederate Army only suffered eight
casualties in its victory at the Battle of Big Bethel in York County,
Virginia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Big_Bethel>
1957:
Led by John Diefenbaker, the Progressive Conservative Party won
a plurality of House of Commons seats in the Canadian federal election.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957_Canadian_federal_election>
1987:
Mass protests demanding direct presidential elections broke out
across South Korea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Democratic_Struggle>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cynegetic:
(hunting, rare) Of or relating to hunting (especially with dogs).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cynegetic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Children are willing to expose themselves to experiences. We
aren't. Grownups always say they protect their children, but they're
really protecting themselves. Besides, you can't protect children. They
know everything.
--Maurice Sendak
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maurice_Sendak>
The Ecstatic is the fourth album by American rapper Mos Def (pictured),
released by Downtown Records on June 9, 2009. Singer Georgia Anne
Muldrow and rappers Slick Rick and Talib Kweli were guest vocalists. The
album has been described by music journalists as a conscious and
alternative hip hop record. Mos Def's raps about global politics, love,
spirituality, and social conditions are informed by Black
internationalism and pan-Islamic ideas. The album's loosely structured,
lightly reverbed songs use unconventional time signatures and samples
taken from Afrobeat, soul, Eurodance, jazz, reggae, Latin, and Middle
Eastern music. The Ecstatic charted at number nine on the Billboard 200
in its first week of release and eventually sold 168,000 copies. A
widespread critical success, The Ecstatic was viewed as a return to form
for Mos Def and one of the year's best albums. He performed concerts to
support the record in North America, Japan, Australia, and the United
Kingdom.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ecstatic>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1772:
In an act of defiance against the Navigation Acts, American
colonists led by Abraham Whipple attacked and burned the British
schooner Gaspee.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspee_affair>
1944:
World War II: In reprisal for successful French Resistance
attacks, German SS and SD troops hanged 99 men in the town of Tulle.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulle_massacre>
1954:
During hearings investigating conflicting accusations between
the United States Army and Senator Joseph McCarthy, Army lawyer Joseph
N. Welch asked McCarthy: "At long last, have you left no sense of
decency?"
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army%E2%80%93McCarthy_hearings>
1999:
Yugoslav Wars: The Kumanovo Agreement was signed, bringing an
end to the Kosovo War the next day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumanovo_Agreement>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
plankter:
(biology) A single organism of plankton.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plankter>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth And danced the skies
on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the
tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds,—and done a hundred things You
have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung High in the sunlit
silence. Hov’ring there, I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and
flung My eager craft through footless halls of air. ...Up, up the long,
delirious, burning blue I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy
grace Where never lark, or even eagle flew— And, while with silent,
lifting mind I’ve trod The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
—Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
--John Gillespie Magee Jr.
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Gillespie_Magee_Jr.>
Bill Newton (8 June 1919 – 29 March 1943) was an Australian
recipient of the Victoria Cross, honoured for his actions as a bomber
pilot in Papua New Guinea during March 1943. Raised in Melbourne, he
joined the Citizen Military Forces in 1938 and enlisted in the Royal
Australian Air Force (RAAF) in February 1940. He served as a flying
instructor in Australia before being posted to No. 22 Squadron, which
began operating Boston light bombers in New Guinea late in 1942. Having
just taken part in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, he was on his fifty-
second mission when he was shot down. Newton was still posted as missing
when given the Victoria Cross in October 1943. It later emerged that he
was captured by the Japanese and beheaded. Newton was the only
Australian airman to receive a Victoria Cross for action in the South
West Pacific theatre of World War II, and the sole Australian to be so
decorated while flying with an RAAF squadron.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Newton>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
American Civil War: The Confederate Army won a resounding
victory at the Battle of Cross Keys, one of the two decisive battles in
Jackson's Valley campaign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cross_Keys>
1929:
Margaret Bondfield became the first female member of the
Cabinet of the United Kingdom when she was named Minister of Labour by
Ramsay MacDonald.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Bondfield>
1941:
World War II: The Allies commenced the Syria–Lebanon campaign
against Vichy French possessions in the Levant.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria%E2%80%93Lebanon_campaign>
1953:
An F5 tornado struck Flint and Beecher, Michigan, causing 116
fatalities, 844 injuries and $19 million in damage during a larger
tornado outbreak sequence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint%E2%80%93Worcester_tornado_outbreak_sequ…>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
memory hole:
1. A figurative place to which information is deliberately sent to be
forgotten, or to which forgotten or lost information ends up; nowhere,
oblivion.
2. (computing)
3. A fragment of physical address space which does not map to main
memory.
4. (rare) Synonym of memory leak (“any of several faults in the memory
allocation logic of a computer or program whereby parts of memory become
hidden or unusable”)
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/memory_hole>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I was taught by both of my parents to work hard, to be passionate
about whatever I did, and I felt that I did that and kind of got to
where I am today because of hard work and passion and determination.
--Ashley Biden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ashley_Biden>
Munsey's Magazine was an American magazine founded by Frank Munsey in
1889. Originally launched in 1889 as Munsey's Weekly, it became an
illustrated monthly in 1891, printing both fiction and non-fiction. In
1893 the price was reduced from 25 to 10 cents and circulation rose to
more than 250,000 issues. The same year Munsey became one of the first
publishers to regularly feature a pretty girl on the cover. Circulation
was also helped by the liberal use of illustrations, and reached a peak
of about 700,000 in 1897, declining in the 1910s. Well-known writers
appeared, including O. Henry, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs,
P. G. Wodehouse, and Joseph Conrad. In 1929 it was merged with Argosy,
another of Munsey's magazines. Magazine historians consider Munsey's to
have started a revolution in magazine publishing by setting a low price
to increase circulation, and attracting sufficient advertising revenue
to make a substantial profit. Other magazines quickly followed the
example of Munsey's.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munsey%27s_Magazine>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1628:
The Petition of Right, a major English constitutional document
that set out specific liberties of individuals, received royal assent
from King Charles I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petition_of_Right>
1917:
First World War: The British Army detonated 19 ammonal mines
under German lines, killing perhaps 10,000 in the deadliest non-nuclear
man-made explosion in history during the Battle of Messines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Messines_%281917%29>
1948:
Anti-Jewish riots broke out in the French protectorate in
Morocco, during which 44 people were killed and 150 injured.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_anti-Jewish_riots_in_Oujda_and_Jerada>
1969:
In their only UK concert, the rock supergroup Blind Faith,
featuring Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood and Ginger Baker, debuted in
London's Hyde Park in front of 100,000 fans.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Faith>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
eat someone's lunch:
(idiomatic, chiefly US, slang) To best or defeat someone thoroughly; to
make short work of.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eat_someone%27s_lunch>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
As we reflect on the sacrifices made on D-Day, we are reminded
that freedom is not free and it has never been guaranteed. Every
generation has to earn it, fight for it, and defend it in the battle
between autocracy and democracy — between the greed of a few and the
rights of many. Eighty years after our Nation’s brave Airmen, Coast
Guardsmen, Sailors, Soldiers, and Marines embarked on D-Day — and as
Americans everywhere answered the call to prayer and filled their hearts
and homes with hope — may we honor the faith they kept in our Nation
and their legacy by upholding the future that they died for — one
grounded in freedom, democracy, opportunity, and equality for all.
--Joe Biden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden>
Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven
Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set in 1944 in France during
World War II, it follows a group of soldiers, led by Captain John
Miller (Tom Hanks), on their mission to locate Private James Francis
Ryan (Matt Damon), who is to be brought home after his three brothers
are killed in action. Inspired by the books of Stephen E. Ambrose and
accounts of the deaths of members of a single family such as the Niland
brothers, Rodat drafted the script and Paramount Pictures hired him to
finish the writing. Spielberg wanted to make Saving Private Ryan as
authentic as possible, and hired Frank Darabont and Scott Frank to
perform uncredited rewrites based on research and interviews with
veterans. The cast went through a week-long boot camp to understand the
soldier experience. Filming took place from June to September 1997 in
England and Ireland. Saving Private Ryan earned critical acclaim for its
graphic portrayal of combat.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saving_Private_Ryan>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1749:
A plot by Muslim slaves in Malta to assassinate Manuel Pinto da
Fonseca of the Knights Hospitaller was uncovered.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1749_Muslim_slave_revolt_plot_in_Malta>
1813:
War of 1812: The British ambushed an American encampment near
present-day Stoney Creek, Ontario, capturing two senior officers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stoney_Creek>
1912:
The largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century began,
forming the volcano Novarupta in the Alaska Peninsula.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novarupta>
1944:
World War II: Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious
military operation in history, began with Allied troops landing on the
beaches of Normandy in France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
nuzzle:
1. (transitive)
2. To push or thrust (the nose or snout, face or muzzle, or head, or an
object) against or into something.
3. To rub or touch (someone or something) with the nose, face, etc., or
an object.
4. Chiefly of an animal: to dig (something, especially food) out of the
ground using the nose or snout; to root.
5. (intransitive)
6. Often followed by in or into: to press or push the nose or snout,
mouth, face, etc., against or into someone or something; to touch
someone or something with the nose or snout, etc.
7. Chiefly of an animal: to push the nose or snout into the ground to
dig for something, especially food; to root, to rootle.
8. Followed by down: to settle or lie comfortably and snugly in a bed,
nest, etc.; to nestle.
9. Chiefly followed by up or with: to press affectionately against
someone or something; to nestle, to snuggle.
10. (figurative) To come into close contact with someone or something.
11. (obsolete, rare) To feel or probe with the fingers.
12. An act of nuzzling (all verb senses). [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nuzzle>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have
striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes
and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In
company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you
will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the
elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and
security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy
one.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower>
The double sovereign is a gold coin of the United Kingdom with a nominal
value of two pounds sterling (£2). It features the reigning monarch on
its obverse and, most often, Benedetto Pistrucci's depiction of Saint
George and the Dragon on the reverse (pictured). It was rarely issued in
the first century and a half after its debut in 1820, usually in a new
monarch's coronation year or to mark the institution of a new coinage
portrait of the monarch. In addition to the usual coinage in Britain,
specimens were struck at Australia's Sydney Mint in 1887 and 1902. Most
often struck as a proof coin, the double sovereign has been issued for
circulation in only four years, and few examples worn from commercial
use are known. It is now a collector and bullion coin, and has been
struck by the Royal Mint most years since 1980. In some years, it has
not been issued and the Royal Mint instead placed gold versions of the
commemorative £2 piece in the annual gold proof sets.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_sovereign>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1899:
Antonio Luna, Commanding General of the Philippine Army, was
assassinated in the midst of the Philippine–American War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Luna>
1997:
Anticipating a coup attempt, President Pascal Lissouba of the
Republic of the Congo ordered the detainment of his rival Denis Sassou
Nguesso, initiating a second civil war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_the_Congo_Civil_War_%281997%E2%80…>
2004:
Noël Mamère, the mayor of Bègles, conducted a marriage
ceremony for two men, even though same-sex marriage in France had not
yet been legalised.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_France>
2009:
After almost two months of civil disobedience, at least 31
people were killed in clashes between the National Police and indigenous
people in Bagua Province, Peru.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Peruvian_political_crisis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
greenhouse gas:
Any gas (such as carbon dioxide, a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), or methane)
that contributes to the greenhouse effect when released into the
atmosphere by absorbing infrared radiation emitted by a planet's
surface, thus increasing the surface temperature.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/greenhouse_gas>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The old saying holds. Owe your banker £1000 and you are at his
mercy; owe him £1 million and the position is reversed.
--John Maynard Keynes
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes>
550 Madison Avenue is a postmodern skyscraper on Madison Avenue between
55th Street and 56th Street in New York City. Designed by Philip Johnson
and John Burgee with associate architect Simmons Architects, the
building was completed in 1984. It is a 647-foot-tall (197-meter),
37-story office tower with a facade made of pink granite. It was
originally the headquarters of AT&T; Corp., which relocated from 195
Broadway, the company's previous headquarters. Following the breakup of
the Bell System in 1982, AT&T; spun off subsidiary corporations and
never occupied the entire building as it had originally intended. The
building later became the American headquarters of Sony. An annex to the
west was demolished and replaced in the early 2020s. Opinion of the
building has been mixed ever since its design was first announced in
March 1978. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
designated the building's exterior as a landmark in 2018.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/550_Madison_Avenue>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1944:
World War II: A United States Navy task group captured German
submarine U-505 (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-505>
1974:
Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians hosted Ten Cent Beer
Night, but had to forfeit the game to the Texas Rangers due to rioting
by drunken fans.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Cent_Beer_Night>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
tankman:
(military) The (male) operator of a military tank.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tankman>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. Have no
friends not equal to yourself. When you have faults, do not fear to
abandon them.
--Confucius
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Confucius>