Rachelle Ann Go (born August 31, 1986) is a Filipino singer and
actress. Known primarily for her work in theater, she has starred in
musicals on Broadway and in the West End. She began her career as a pop
artist in her native country, winning the television talent show Search
for a Star in 2003. She has since released six albums. Go started her
theater career in the Philippines, playing the lead roles of Ariel in
The Little Mermaid (2011) and Jane Porter in Tarzan (2013). Her
international breakthrough came when she was cast as Gigi Van Tranh in
the West End revival of Miss Saigon in 2014. She gained further
recognition for her portrayal of Eliza Schuyler in the original 2017
West End production of Hamilton. Go has also played Fantine in various
stagings and tours of Les Misérables. Outside of music, she has had
roles in the television series Diva (2010), Nita Negrita (2011),
Biritera (2012), and Indio (2013). (This article is part of a featured
topic: Overview of Rachelle Ann Go.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Overview_of_Rachell…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1888:
The body of Mary Ann Nichols, the alleged first victim of an
unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, was found in Buck's
Row, London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper>
1942:
The Matagorda hurricane, the most intense and costliest
tropical cyclone of the 1942 Atlantic hurricane season, dissipated after
causing $26.5 million in damages and eight deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1942_Matagorda_hurricane>
1969:
On the final day of the Isle of Wight Festival 1969, attended
by approximately 150,000 people over three days, Bob Dylan appeared in
his first gig in three years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Wight_Festival_1969>
2019:
A sightseeing helicopter crashed in the mountains of
Skoddevarre in Alta, Norway, killing all six people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Alta_helicopter_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mee:
1. Chinese-style wheat noodles.
2. With a descriptive word: a dish containing Chinese-style wheat
noodles.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mee>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Wars, for us, are either inevitable, or created. Whatever they
are, they should not wholly vitiate art. What art needs is greater men,
and what politics needs is better men.
--William Saroyan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Saroyan>
Segundo Romance (Second Romance) is the tenth studio album by Mexican
singer Luis Miguel (pictured), released on 30 August 1994 through WEA
Latina. Like Miguel's 1991 album Romance, Segundo Romance comprises
cover versions of boleros (Latin ballads). It was produced by Miguel
with Juan Carlos Calderón, Kiko Cibrian and Armando Manzanero, and
recorded in early 1994 at the Record Plant in Los Angeles. Miguel
promoted the album with tours in the United States and Latin America
from August to December 1994. Four singles were released: "El Día Que
Me Quieras", "La Media Vuelta", "Todo y Nada", and "Delirio". The former
two reached the top of the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart in the United
States. Segundo Romance received positive reviews from music critics and
it won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Performance. By 1995, Segundo
Romance had sold more than 4.5 million copies, achieved multi-platinum
status in many Latin American countries and Spain, and was certified
platinum in the United States.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segundo_Romance>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1574:
Guru Ram Das became the fourth of the Sikh gurus, the spiritual
masters of Sikhism.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Ram_Das>
1594:
King James VI of Scotland held a masque at the baptism of
Prince Henry, his first child.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masque_at_the_baptism_of_Prince_Henry>
1959:
South Vietnamese opposition figure Phan Quang Đán was elected
to the National Assembly, despite soldiers being bussed in to vote
multiple times for President Ngô Đình Diệm's candidate.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phan_Quang_%C4%90%C3%A1n>
2007:
A heavy bomber that had been unintentionally loaded with
nuclear missiles flew them from North Dakota to Louisiana before they
were recognized.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_States_Air_Force_nuclear_weapons_…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hats off:
1. (dated) Used as an instruction for people to remove their hats out of
respect, generally towards someone of importance.
2. (figurative) Followed by to: used to express approval or praise:
congratulations, kudos, well done!
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hats_off>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Can you really explain to a fish what it's like to walk on land?
One day on land is worth a thousand years of talking about it, and one
day running a business has exactly the same kind of value.
--Warren Buffett
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett>
The Cross Temple is a former place of worship in Fangshan, Beijing.
Built as a Buddhist temple, it may have seen Christian use during the
Tang dynasty (618–907). The temple was used by Buddhists during the
Liao dynasty (916–1125) and by Christians during the Yuan dynasty
(1271–1368), returned to Buddhist use during the Ming dynasty
(1368–1644), and was sold in 1911. Its first modern mention was in
1919. The Cross Temple was damaged during the Cultural Revolution but
recognised as a national-level protected site in 2006. Some scholars
consider it to be the only place of worship of the Church of the East
(also known as Nestorian Christianity) discovered in China. In the early
20th century, two stone blocks carved with crosses were discovered, one
of which had an inscription in Syriac; they are presently on display at
Nanjing Museum. Today, the site features two ancient steles (one
pictured) dating to the Liao and Yuan dynasties, some groundwork and the
bases of several pillars.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Temple,_Fangshan>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1786:
Angered by high tax burdens and disfranchisement, farmers in
western Massachusetts led by Daniel Shays began an armed uprising
against the U.S. federal government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays%27s_Rebellion>
1831:
Michael Faraday first experimentally demonstrated
electromagnetic induction, leading to the formulation of the law of
induction named after him.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday%27s_law_of_induction>
1960:
Air France Flight 343 crashed while attempting to land at Yoff
Airport, Dakar, killing all 63 occupants.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_343>
2016:
Chen Quanguo became the Chinese Communist Party secretary of
Xinjiang, and in that role later oversaw the creation of the Xinjiang
internment camps.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Quanguo>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
make no bones about:
(idiomatic) To do, indicate, or say something clearly and without
hesitation, even if it may be unpleasant.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/make_no_bones_about>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I’d like to see our politics begin to return to the purposes
and practices that distinguish our history from the history of other
nations. I would like to see us recover our sense that we are more alike
than different. We are citizens of a republic made of shared ideals
forged in a new world to replace the tribal enmities that tormented the
old one. Even in times of political turmoil such as these, we share that
awesome heritage and the responsibility to embrace it. Whether we think
each other right or wrong in our views on the issues of the day, we owe
each other our respect, as long as our character merits respect, and as
long as we share, for all our differences, for all the rancorous debates
that enliven and sometimes demean our politics, a mutual devotion to the
ideals our nation was conceived to uphold, that all are created equal,
and liberty and equal justice are the natural rights of all. Those
rights inhabit the human heart, and from there, though they may be
assailed, they can never be wrenched. I want to urge Americans, for as
long as I can, to remember that this shared devotion to human rights is
our truest heritage and our most important loyalty.
--John McCain
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_McCain>
Bäckadräkten is Sweden's first unisex folk costume, designed in 2022
by musician Fredy Clue (pictured) and textile designer Ida Björs. Their
mission was to encourage wider participation in folk traditions by
providing an outfit that is not restricted to any gender or geographic
region. The design merges elements traditionally considered either male
or female and borrows heavily from older folk costumes. The release
generated international press attention and discussions on social media,
much of the latter about the relationship between folk arts and gender.
Many welcomed the design, saying it provides an opportunity for non-
binary Swedes to be more involved in folk culture. Others reacted
negatively, resisting the social change they see as associated with it.
Clue released a sewing pattern in 2023 and started taking custom orders
by 2024, encouraging users to modify as they see fit, saying: "The real
work continues with us learning to listen to oneself and others."
(Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A4ckadr%C3%A4kten>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1833:
The Slavery Abolition Act 1833, officially abolishing slavery
in most of the British Empire, received royal assent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_Abolition_Act_1833>
1914:
In the first naval battle of the First World War, British ships
ambushed a German naval patrol in the Heligoland Bight (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Heligoland_Bight_%281914%29>
1993:
The first direct Presidential election in Singapore was held.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_elections_in_Singapore>
2003:
A pizza delivery man in Erie, Pennsylvania, was killed during a
complex bank robbery when a bomb that was locked around his neck
exploded.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Brian_Wells>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Phrygian cap:
1. (Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome) A soft, close-fitting conical cap with
the top bent forward, represented in Greek and Roman art as worn by
ancient Phrygians, and later associated with the Roman liberty cap.
2. (by extension, anatomy) A congenital abnormality of the gall bladder
with no pathological significance, caused by a folding at the distal
part of the fundus.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Phrygian_cap>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Nothing is more frightful than to see ignorance in action.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe>
Nadezhda Stasova (1822–1895) was an educator and one of the earliest
leaders of the Russian women's movement. She was born into a noble and
wealthy family; Tsar Alexander I of Russia was her godfather, and she
received extensive private tutoring as a child. In adulthood, she
dedicated herself to women's empowerment. Along with Anna Filosofova and
Maria Trubnikova, she founded and led several organizations designed to
promote women's cultural and economic independence, including a
publishing cooperative. In a decades-long effort, they successfully
pushed government officials to allow higher education for women,
although continual opposition sometimes limited or even reversed their
successes. Stasova eventually became the lead organizer of the Bestuzhev
Courses for women in 1878, but a decade later was forced to resign under
political pressure. She continued her work on women's issues right up
until her death in 1895, mentoring and inspiring younger feminists.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadezhda_Stasova>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1896:
In the shortest recorded war in history, the Sultanate of
Zanzibar surrendered to the United Kingdom after less than an hour of
conflict.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zanzibar_War>
1955:
The first edition of the Guinness Book of Records was
published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_World_Records>
1964:
South Vietnamese junta leader Nguyễn Khánh entered into a
triumvirate power-sharing arrangement with rival generals Trần Thiện
Khiêm and Dương Văn Minh, both of whom had been involved in plots to
unseat Khánh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C6%B0%C6%A1ng_V%C4%83n_Minh>
2003:
The planet Mars made its closest approach to Earth in almost
60,000 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
torch:
1. A stick of wood or plant fibres twisted together, with one end soaked
in a flammable substance such as resin or tallow and set on fire, which
is held in the hand, put into a wall bracket, or stuck into the ground,
and used chiefly as a light source.
2. (by extension) A similarly shaped implement with a replaceable supply
of flammable material; specifically, a pole with a lamp at one end.
3. (by extension, Commonwealth) In full electric torch: synonym of
flashlight (“a battery-powered hand-held light source”)
4. (by extension, botany)
5. A flower which is red or red-orange in colour like a flame.
6. A spike (“kind of inflorescence”) made up of spikelets.
7. (chiefly in the plural) The common mullein, great mullein, or
torchwort (Verbascum thapsus).
8. (obsolete) A cactus with a very elongated body; a ceroid cactus; a
torch cactus or torch-thistle.
9. (figurative)
10. A source of enlightenment or guidance.
11. In carry, hand on, or pass on the torch: a precious cause,
principle, tradition, etc., which needs to be protected and transmitted
to others.
12. (science fiction) Short for torch drive (“a spacecraft engine which
produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).
13. (chiefly Canada, US) Short for blowtorch (“a tool which projects a
controlled stream of a highly flammable gas over a spark in order to
produce a controlled flame”).
14. (US, slang) An arsonist.
15. (transitive)
16. To illuminate or provide (a place) with torches (noun sense 1).
17. (originally and chiefly US, slang) To set fire to (something),
especially by use of a torch; specifically, to intentionally destroy
(something) by setting on fire to try and claim compensation on a fire
insurance.
18. (figurative) To make damaging claims about (someone or something);
to ruin the reputation of (someone or something); to disparage, to
insult.
19. (intransitive)
20. Of a fire: to burn.
21. (science fiction) To travel in a spacecraft propelled by a torch
drive (“an engine which produces thrust by nuclear fusion”).
22. (UK, dialectal, figurative) To (appear to) flare up like a torch.
23. (US, fishing) To catch fish or other aquatic animals by torchlight;
to go torch-fishing. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/torch>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
What is it in man that for a long while lies unknown and unseen
only one day to emerge and push him into a new land of the eye, a new
region of the mind, a place he has never dreamed of? Maybe it's like the
force in spores lying quietly under asphalt until the day they push a
soft, bulbous mushroom head right through the pavement. There's nothing
you can do to stop it.
--William Least Heat-Moon
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Least_Heat-Moon>
The black-throated loon (Gavia arctica) is a migratory aquatic bird that
primarily breeds in freshwater lakes in northern Europe and Asia. It
winters along sheltered, ice-free coasts of the northern Atlantic and
Pacific oceans. First formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, it is
about 70 centimetres (28 in) long and can weigh from 1.3 to 3.4
kilograms (2.9 to 7.5 lb). In breeding plumage, it has mostly black
upperparts, a grey head and hindneck, white and black sides, mostly
white underparts and flanks, and a mostly black throat. The loon builds
an oval-shaped nest about 23 centimetres (9.1 in) across, in vegetation
on or near the breeding lake. It usually lays two eggs, brown-green with
dark splotches. Chicks are fed a diet of small fish and invertebrates,
contrasting with the mostly fish diet of the adult. Overall, the
population of this loon is declining, but the species is not threatened.
It is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and the
African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-throated_loon>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1748:
The first Lutheran denomination in North America, the
Pennsylvania Ministerium, was founded in Philadelphia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Ministerium>
1914:
First World War: The German colony of Togoland surrendered to
French and British forces after a 20-day campaign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togoland_campaign>
1959:
The Coatzacoalcos earthquake struck near the Mexican state of
Veracruz, killing 25 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959_Coatzacoalcos_earthquake>
1968:
The U.S. Democratic Party's National Convention opened in
Chicago, sparking four days of clashes between anti-Vietnam War
protesters and police.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pug:
1. Senses relating to someone or something small.
2. In full pug dog: a small dog of an ancient breed originating in
China, having a snub nose, wrinkled face, squarish body, short smooth
hair, and curled tail.
3.
4. In full pug moth, often with a descriptive word: any geometrid moth
of the tribe Eupitheciini, especially the genus Eupithecia; a geometer
moth.
5. (clothing, historical) In full pug hood: a hood, sometimes with a
short cloak attached, worn by women around the middle of the 18th
century.
6. (rail transport) In full pug engine: a small locomotive chiefly used
for shunting (“moving trains from one track to another, or carriages
from one train to another”).
7. (UK, regional, archaic) Also used as a proper name: any of various
animals, such as a ferret, hare, squirrel, or young salmon.
8. (specifically) Synonym of teg (“a sheep (originally a ewe) in its
second year, or from the time it is weaned until it is first shorn”)
9. (specifically, obsolete) An ape, a monkey; also (by extension) a
human child.
10. (specifically, obsolete) A fox.
11. (UK, regional, rare) A person or thing that is squat (“broad and
short”).
12. (US, regional) A bun or knot of hair; also, a piece of cloth or
snood for holding this in place.
13. (obsolete) A small demon; an imp, a puck, a sprite. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pug>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Knowledge is the only power — now as ever. A little mechanical
device will wreck your navies. A new chemical combination will upset
every rule of war. It is the same with our commerce. One or two minute
changes might sink Britain to the level of Ecuador, or give China the
key of the world's wealth. And yet we never dream that these things are
possible. We think our castles of sand are the ramparts of the universe.
--John Buchan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Buchan>
The 24th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Karstjäger was a German
mountain infantry division of the Waffen-SS, the armed wing of the Nazi
Party that served alongside, but was never formally part of, the German
armed forces during World War II. Formed on 18 July 1944 from a
battalion, it was understrength and was soon reduced to a brigade. Its
main task was fighting partisans on the rugged frontiers of Yugoslavia,
Italy, and Austria, and it consisted mainly of ethnic Germans from
Yugoslavia and Italy. It also disarmed Italian troops and protected
ethnic German communities in Italy in the wake of the Italian surrender.
Members of the division were implicated in the 25 August 1944 murder of
33 people in the village of Torlano near Nimis in Italy, and 22 other
major crimes. At the post-war Nuremberg trials, the Waffen-SS was
declared to be a criminal organisation due to its major involvement in
war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24th_Waffen_Mountain_Division_of_the_SS_Karst…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1758:
Seven Years' War: Prussian forces engaged the Russians at the
Battle of Zorndorf in present-day Sarbinowo, Poland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Zorndorf>
1914:
World War I: During the sack of Louvain in Belgium, German
troops burned the town's Catholic university, destroying several
medieval manuscripts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Louvain>
1989:
The NASA spacecraft Voyager 2 made its closest approach to
Neptune and provided definitive proof of the existence of the planet's
rings (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Neptune>
2011:
Mexican drug war: Fifty-two people were killed in an arson at a
casino in Monterrey, Mexico.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Monterrey_casino_attack>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
micropolitan:
1. (US) Of or pertaining to a city or twin cities having at least 10,000
but fewer than 50,000 inhabitants; of a city: less populated than a
metropolitan area but more than a rural one.
2. (US) A city or twin cities having at least 10,000 but fewer than
50,000 inhabitants; a city which is less populated than a metropolitan
area but more than a rural one.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/micropolitan>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Oh some are fond of Spanish wine, and some are fond of
French,And some’ll swallow tay and stuff fit only for a wench;But
I’m for right Jamaica till I roll beneath the bench,Says the old bold
mate of Henry Morgan.
--John Masefield
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Masefield>
Anna Lee Fisher (born August 24, 1949) is an American chemist,
emergency physician and former NASA astronaut who was the first mother
to fly in space. Fisher became an astronaut candidate with NASA
Astronaut Group 8 and joined the Astronaut Office for the development
of the Canadarm and the testing of payload bay door contingency
spacewalk procedures. She was assigned to the search and rescue
helicopters for four Space Shuttle missions, then involved in the
verification of flight software at the Shuttle Avionics Integration
Laboratory and supported vehicle integration and payload testing at
Kennedy Space Center. She flew into space on Space Shuttle Discovery for
the STS-51-A mission and used the Canadarm to retrieve two satellites in
incorrect orbits. Fisher then worked on procedures and training issues
for the International Space Station (ISS), was a capsule communicator
(CAPCOM) and the lead CAPCOM for ISS Expedition 33, and was involved in
developing the display for the Orion spacecraft.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Lee_Fisher>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1814:
War of 1812: British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting
fire to various U.S. government buildings, including the White House
(pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Washington>
1889:
The New Zealand Native football team, predominantly comprising
Māori players, concluded their 107-game tour, the longest in rugby
union history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1888%E2%80%9389_New_Zealand_Native_football_t…>
1914:
The Battle of Cer ended with the first Allied victory of World
War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cer>
1954:
In the midst of a political crisis, Brazilian president
Getúlio Vargas fatally shot himself in the Catete Palace in Rio de
Janeiro.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get%C3%BAlio_Vargas>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lave:
1. (transitive)
2. To bathe or wash (someone or something).
3. Of a river or other water body: to flow along or past (a place or
thing); to wash.
4. Followed by into, on, or upon: to pour (water or some other liquid)
with or as if with a ladle into or on someone or something; to lade, to
ladle.
5. (figurative)
6. To remove (something), as if by washing away with water.
7. To surround or gently touch (someone or something), as if with water.
8. Chiefly in sexual contexts: to lick (someone or something).
9. (archaic or obsolete) Followed by out or up: to draw or scoop (water)
out of something with a bucket, scoop, etc.; specifically, to bail
(water) out of a boat.
10. (intransitive)
11. (reflexive) To bathe or wash.
12. (figurative)
13. To surround as if with water.
14. Chiefly in sexual contexts; followed by at: to lick.
15. An act of bathing or washing; a bath or bathe, a wash.
16. (rare, also figurative) The sea. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lave>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the
world. And on behalf of our children and our grandchildren and all those
who sacrificed so dearly for our freedom and liberty, we must be worthy
of this moment. It is now our turn to do what generations before us
have done, guided by optimism and faith: to fight for this country we
love, to fight for the ideals we cherish, and to uphold the awesome
responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth — the
privilege and pride of being an American. So, let’s get out there,
let’s fight for it. Let’s get out there, let’s vote for it. And
together, let us write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary
story ever told. Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United
States of America.
--Kamala Harris
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris>
In 1993, about 350 documents were forged by Lawrence X. Cusack III.
These papers were supposedly from, or related to, John F. Kennedy. Some
of them alleged that Kennedy had a secret first marriage and dealings
with organized crime, had bribed FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, and paid
hush money to Marilyn Monroe. Cusack, son of a lawyer who had dealings
with Monroe's family, claimed to have found the papers in the firm's
files. He sold them for between six and seven million dollars. One of
the buyers suggested showing them to Seymour Hersh, who was writing The
Dark Side of Camelot (1997). Hersh began incorporating them into his
book and proposed a television documentary. Checks by the networks
uncovered flaws in the forgeries. These included the use of a ZIP Code
in a paper dated two years before the ZIP Code was introduced, and the
use of typeball that had not yet been invented. Cusack was convicted of
fraud, sentenced to nearly ten years in prison and ordered to refund the
money to the buyers.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_document_hoax>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1914:
In their first major action of the First World War, the British
Expeditionary Force engaged German troops in Mons, Belgium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mons>
1939:
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a ten-year mutual non-aggression treaty,
which also secretly divided northern and eastern Europe into German and
Soviet spheres of influence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact>
1954:
The Cruise of the Kings, a royal cruise organised by the Queen
Consort of Greece, Frederica of Hanover, departed from Marseille,
France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise_of_the_Kings>
1989:
Singing Revolution: Approximately two million people joined
hands to form a human chain spanning 675.5 kilometres (419.7 mi) across
the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet republics to demonstrate
their desire for independence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Way>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
kitchen sink:
1. A sink in a kitchen used for washing crockery, cutlery, utensils,
food, etc., and disposing of waste.
2. (figurative)
3. (also attributive) A miscellaneous item or a miscellany, especially
exemplifying an indiscriminate profusion.
4. (metonymically) In chained or tied to the kitchen sink, etc.:
domestic chores or housework, especially when regarded as menial and
tedious.
5. (obsolete) A thing regarded as defiled due to corruption, immorality,
etc.
6.
7. (painting) Of or pertaining to a mid-20th-century realist style of
painting in Britain characterized by scenes of dull or untidy domestic
interiors such as kitchens in the homes of urban working-class people;
also, of or pertaining to an artist or group of artists painting in this
style.
8. (by extension, drama, fiction, film, television, originally
derogatory) Of or pertaining to a mid-20th-century (especially
1950s–1960s) genre of drama, fiction, etc., in Britain depicting the
harsh lives of working-class people; also, of or pertaining to a film,
novel, play, etc., of this genre.
9. (transitive)
10. To make (something) overly complicated or elaborate; to
overcomplicate, to overwork.
11. To raise to (someone) unrelated complaints and other matters during
an argument.
12. (business) To release (a large amount of information about the poor
financial results of a company) in one go, in the hope that there will
be less impact.
13. (intransitive) To raise unrelated complaints and other matters
during an argument.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kitchen_sink>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
This election isn’t about "us and them". It’s about you and
me and what we want our futures to look like. There are choices to be
made when we cast our ballot. Now, there’s a certain candidate that
says, if we just go to the polls this one time, then we’ll never have
to do it again. Well, you know what? You’re looking at a registered
independent who’s proud to vote again and again and again. Because
I’m an American, and that’s what Americans do. Voting is the best
of America. And I have always, since I was eligible to vote, I’ve
always voted my values. And that is what is needed in this election, now
more than ever. So I’m calling on all you independents and all you
undecideds. You know this is true. You know I’m telling you the truth:
that values and character matter most of all, in leadership and in life.
And more than anything — you know this is true — that decency and
respect are on the ballot in 2024. And just plain common sense.
--Oprah Winfrey
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey>
Total Recall is a 1990 American science-fiction action film directed by
Paul Verhoeven (pictured). Based on a 1966 short story by Philip K.
Dick, the film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon
Stone, Ronny Cox, and Michael Ironside. It tells the story of Douglas
Quaid (Schwarzenegger) and the shadow organization that tries to prevent
him from recovering memories of his past as a Martian secret agent.
Schwarzenegger convinced Carolco Pictures to develop the film with him
as the star, after the project had lingered in development hell at
multiple studios over sixteen years. The film was one of the most
expensive ever made at the time, and became the fifth-highest-grossing
film of the year. Reviewers liked its themes of identity and questioning
reality, but criticized content perceived as vulgar and violent. The
practical special effects were well received, earning the film an
Academy Award, and the score by Jerry Goldsmith has been praised as one
of his best works.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Recall_%281990_film%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1864:
Under the leadership of Henry Dunant and the International
Committee of the Red Cross, twelve European states signed the First
Geneva Convention, establishing rules for the protection of victims of
armed conflict.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Geneva_Convention>
1914:
First World War: German forces captured Rossignol in Belgium,
taking more than 3,800 French prisoners.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rossignol>
1961:
Ida Siekmann jumped from a window in her tenement building
trying to flee to West Berlin, becoming the first person to die at the
Berlin Wall.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Siekmann>
2012:
A series of ethnic clashes between the Orma and the Pokomo in
Kenya's Tana River District resulted in at least 52 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012%E2%80%932013_Tana_River_District_clashes>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
asymptomatic:
1. (pathology) Not exhibiting any symptoms of disease, as for example in
a case which is subclinical (“without signs detectable by physical
examination or laboratory test”).
2. A person or an animal that exhibits no symptoms of disease.
3. Preceded by the: people or animals that exhibit no symptoms of
disease regarded collectively.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/asymptomatic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Kamala Harris, is more than ready for this moment. She is one of
the most qualified people ever to seek the office of the presidency. And
she is one of the most dignified — a tribute to her mother, to my
mother, and to your mother too. The embodiment of the stories we tell
ourselves about this country. Her story is your story. It’s my story.
It’s the story of the vast majority of Americans trying to build a
better life. … Kamala knows, like we do, that regardless of where you
come from, what you look like, who you love, how you worship, or
what’s in your bank account, we all deserve the opportunity to build a
decent life. All of our contributions deserve to be accepted and valued.
Because no one has a monopoly on what it means to be an American. No
one. Kamala has shown her allegiance to this nation, not by spewing
anger and bitterness, but by living a life of service and always pushing
the doors of opportunity open to others. She understands that most of us
will never be afforded the grace of failing forward. We will never
benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth. If we
bankrupt a business or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second,
third, or fourth chance. If things don’t go our way, we don’t have
the luxury of whining or cheating others to get further ahead. No. We
don’t get to change the rules so we always win. If we see a mountain
in front of us, we don’t expect there to be an escalator waiting to
take us to the top. No. We put our heads down. We get to work. In
America, we do something. And throughout her entire life, that’s what
we’ve seen from Kamala Harris, the steel of her spine, the steadiness
of her upbringing, the honesty of her example, and yes, the joy of her
laughter and her light.
--Michelle Obama
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michelle_Obama>
The Turabay dynasty was a family of Bedouin emirs who governed the
district of Lajjun in northern Palestine during Ottoman rule in the
16th–17th centuries. The family's forebears had served as chiefs of
Jezreel Valley during Mamluk rule in the late 15th century. During the
Ottoman conquest of the region in 1516–1517, the family aided Ottoman
sultan Selim I. The Ottomans kept them as guardians of the strategic
Via Maris and Damascus–Jerusalem highways and rewarded them with tax
farms. Although in the 17th century several of their emirs lived in
towns, the Turabays largely remained nomads, camping with their
tribesmen near Caesarea in the winters and the plain of Acre in the
summers. The eastward migration of their tribesmen to the Jordan Valley,
Ottoman centralization, and falling tax revenues brought about their
political decline and they were permanently stripped of office in 1677.
Descendants of the family continue to live in the area..
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Valley>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
The national colours of Italy first appeared on a tricolour
cockade in Genoa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockade_of_Italy>
1911:
Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre by
museum employee Vincenzo Peruggia and was not recovered until two years
later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa>
1944:
World War II: A combined Canadian–Polish force captured the
town of Falaise, France, in the final offensive of the Battle of
Normandy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Tractable>
2007:
BioShock was released in North America, becoming a critical
success and a demonstration of video games as an art form.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
accretion:
1. (uncountable, also figurative) Increase by natural growth, especially
the gradual increase of organic bodies by the internal addition of
matter; organic growth; also, the amount of such growth.
2. (uncountable) (Gradual) increase by an external addition of matter;
(countable) an instance of this.
3. (geology) The process by which material is added to a geological
feature; specifically, to a tectonic plate at a subduction zone.
4. (uncountable, also figurative) Followed by of: external addition of
matter to a thing which causes it to grow, especially in amount or size.
5. (uncountable) The process of separate particles aggregating or
coalescing together; concretion; (countable) a thing formed in this
manner.
6. (astrophysics) The formation of planets, stars, and other celestial
bodies by the aggregating of matter drawn together by gravity; also, the
growth of a celestial body through this process.
7. (countable, chiefly figurative) Something gradually added to or
growing on a thing externally.
8. (conservation science) A substance which has built up on the surface
of an object, rather than become embedded in it.
9. (law)
10. (uncountable) Increase in property by the addition of other property
to it (for example, gain of land by alluvion (“the deposition of
sediment by a river or sea”) or dereliction (“recession of water from
the usual watermark”), or entitlement to the products of the property
such as interest on money); or by the property owner acquiring another
person's ownership rights; accession; (countable) an instance of this.
11. (uncountable) Increase of an inheritance to an heir or legatee due
to the share of a co-heir or co-legatee being added to it, because the
latter person is legally unable to inherit the share.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/accretion>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Folks, all of us carry a special obligation. Independents,
Republicans, Democrats. We saved democracy in 2020, and now we must save
it again in 2024. The vote that each of us cast this year will determine
whether democracy and freedom will prevail. It’s that simple. It’s
that serious. And the power is literally in your hands. History’s in
your hands. Not hyperbole. It’s in your hands. America’s future’s
in your hands.
--Joe Biden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden>
Outer Wilds is a 2019 action-adventure video game developed by Mobius
Digital and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game follows the
player character as they explore a planetary system stuck in a 22-minute
time loop that resets after the sun goes supernova and destroys the
system. Through repeated attempts they investigate alien ruins to
discover their history and the cause of the time loop. The game began
development in 2012 as the master's thesis of director Alex Beachum
(pictured), and became a commercial project in 2015. It was released for
Windows, the Xbox One, and the PlayStation 4 in 2019, for the
PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X/S in 2022, and for the Nintendo
Switch in 2023. It was positively received, with most critics acclaiming
its design and some criticizing the uneven difficulty of gameplay and
pursuing the game's mysteries. An expansion, Echoes of the Eye, was
released in 2021. Outer Wilds won in multiple categories at award shows,
including Best Game at the 16th British Academy Games Awards.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Wilds>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1892:
Celtic Park, the largest football stadium in Scotland and home
of Celtic F.C., opened.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Park>
1909:
Pluto was photographed for the first time at the Yerkes
Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, U.S., 21 years before it was
officially discovered by Clyde Tombaugh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto>
1988:
The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army bombed a
bus carrying British Army soldiers in Northern Ireland, killing eight of
them and wounding twenty-eight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballygawley_bus_bombing>
1989:
After colliding with the dredger Bowbelle on the River Thames
in London, the pleasure boat Marchioness sank in thirty seconds, killing
51 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marchioness_disaster>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ham-fisted:
1. Lacking skill in physical movement with the hands; clumsy.
2. (by extension) Lacking skill in general; incompetent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ham-fisted>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Our task is to serve the logos out of the depths of our new
kairos, a kairos that is now emerging in the crises and catastrophes of
our day. Hence, the more deeply we understand fate — our own personal
fate and that of our society — the more our intellectual work will
have power and truth.
--Paul Tillich
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Tillich>
The Battle of Winwick was fought on 19 August 1648 between a Scottish
Royalist army and a Parliamentarian army during the Second English Civil
War. The Scottish army invaded north-west England and was attacked and
defeated at Preston on 17 August. The surviving Royalists fled south,
closely pursued. Two days later, hungry, cold, soaking wet, exhausted
and short of dry powder, they turned to fight at Winwick.
Parliamentarian infantry launched a full-scale assault which resulted in
more than three hours of furious but indecisive close-quarters fighting.
The Parliamentarians fell back, pinned the Scots in place with their
cavalry and sent their infantry on a circuitous flank march. When the
Scots saw this force appear on their right flank they broke and fled.
Parliamentarian cavalry pursued, killing many. The surviving Scottish
infantry surrendered either at Winwick church (pictured) or in nearby
Warrington; their cavalry on 24 August at Uttoxeter. Winwick was the
last battle of the war.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Winwick>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1934:
A referendum supported the recent merging of the posts of
chancellor and president of Germany, consolidating Adolf Hitler's
assumption of supreme power.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934_German_head_of_state_referendum>
2002:
Second Chechen War: A Russian Mil Mi-26 was brought down by
Chechen separatists with a man-portable air-defense system near
Khankala, killing 127 people in the deadliest helicopter crash in
history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Khankala_Mi-26_crash>
2017:
Around 250,000 farmed non-native Atlantic salmon were
accidentally released into the wild near Cypress Island, Washington.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypress_Island_Atlantic_salmon_pen_break>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
internally displaced person:
Someone who is forced to flee their home but who remains within their
country's borders.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/internally_displaced_person>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We dared to hope we had invented something that would bring
lasting peace to the earth. But we were wrong ... I don't have any
regrets about my part in the invention of the airplane, though no one
could deplore more than I do the destruction it has caused. I feel about
the airplane much the same as I do in regard to fire. That is, I regret
all the terrible damage caused by fire, but I think it is good for the
human race that someone discovered how to start fires and that we have
learned how to put fire to thousands of important uses.
--Orville Wright
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Orville_Wright>
Kes is a fictional character in the science fiction television show Star
Trek: Voyager, played by Jennifer Lien. Kes joins the crew of the
starship USS Voyager in the pilot episode, opening an aeroponics garden
and working as a medical assistant. She is a member of a telepathic
alien species with a life span of only nine years. She leaves the ship
in the fourth season after her powers threaten to destroy it. She
reappears in an episode in the sixth season and features in Star Trek:
Voyager novels and short stories. Voyager's creators intended Kes to
provide audiences with a different perspective on time. Although Kes is
portrayed as fragile and innocent, she is also shown as having hidden
strength and maturity. Voyager's producers reluctantly fired Lien after
her personal issues affected her reliability on set. Kes was a fan
favorite character while Voyager was airing, although critics reacted
more negatively, finding her boring and without a clear purpose. Lien
was praised for her performance.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kes_%28Star_Trek%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1823:
At least 9,000 enslaved people rebelled in the British colony
in Demerara-Essequibo (in present-day Guyana), demanding emancipation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demerara_rebellion_of_1823>
1864:
American Civil War: At the Battle of Globe Tavern, Union forces
attempted to sever the Weldon Railroad during the siege of Petersburg.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Globe_Tavern>
1937:
A lightning strike started the Blackwater Fire in Shoshone
National Forest, Wyoming, consuming 1,700 acres (7 km2) of old-growth
forest and killing 15 firefighters.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_Fire_of_1937>
2017:
Two people were fatally stabbed and eight others wounded by a
rejected asylum seeker in an Islamist terrorist attack in Turku,
Finland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Turku_attack>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
undissembled:
1. Not dissembled.
2. Not concealed or disguised; evident, obvious.
3. Not dissimulated or feigned; genuine, unfaked.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/undissembled>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You have to show violence the way it is. If you don't show it
realistically, then that's immoral and harmful. If you don't upset
people, then that's obscenity.
--Roman Polański
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roman_Pola%C5%84ski>
On December 8, 1963, Pan Am Flight 214 crashed near Elkton, Maryland,
killing all 81 crew and passengers. Flight 214 had originated at Isla
Verde International Airport in San Juan, flying to Friendship Airport
near Baltimore, and then took off for Philadelphia. The crash was Pan
Am's first fatal accident with the Boeing 707-121, which it had
introduced to its fleet five years earlier. An investigation by the
Civil Aeronautics Board concluded that the probable cause of the crash
was a lightning strike that had ignited fuel vapors in one of the
aircraft's fuel tanks, causing an explosion that destroyed the left
wing. The exact manner of ignition was never determined, but the
investigation increased awareness of how lightning can damage aircraft,
leading to new regulations. The crash also led to research into the
safety of several types of aviation fuel and into ways of changing the
design of aircraft fuel systems to make them safer in the event of
lightning strikes.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_214>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1876:
Götterdämmerung premiered, the last opera in the Ring cycle
by Richard Wagner (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6tterd%C3%A4mmerung>
1914:
World War I: Ignoring orders to retreat, Hermann von François
led a successful counterattack defending East Prussia at the Battle of
Stallupönen and scored the first German victory in the Eastern Front.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stallup%C3%B6nen>
1943:
World War II: The Royal Air Force began a strategic bombing
campaign against Nazi Germany's V-weapon programme by attacking the
Peenemünde Army Research Center.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Hydra_%281943%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
handout:
1. An act of handing out something.
2. (US, card games, archaic, rare) An act of dealing playing cards; a
deal.
3. A printed sheet such as a leaflet or pamphlet, or a worksheet, that
is given out free of charge (usually by hand) for a certain use, for
example as an advertisement or for information.
4. Synonym of press release (“an official written statement that is sent
to the media so that it can be publicized”)
5. (often derogatory) A gift of money or material assistance to the
needy or poor.
6. (by extension) Something obtained without effort; a gift, a present.
7. Of a thing: given out free of charge, usually by hand.
8. Of or pertaining to the giving of handouts (gifts of money or
material assistance, printed sheets, etc.).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/handout>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We are expanding the area of active operations. … Hundreds of
Russian servicemen have already surrendered, and all of them will
receive humane treatment — they did not experience such treatment even
in their own Russian army. … And now all of us in Ukraine should act
as unitedly and efficiently as we did in the first weeks and months of
this war, when Ukraine took the initiative and began to turn the
situation to the benefit of our state. … we have proven once again
that we, Ukrainians, are capable of achieving our goals in any situation
— capable of defending our interests and our independence. And we must
make full use of our achievements. And we will. … Special attention is
paid to the Kursk region, and thus to the protection of all our border
communities nearby. The more the Russian military presence in the border
area is destroyed, the closer peace and real security will be for our
country. The Russian state must be held accountable for what it has
done. And it is.
--Volodymyr Zelenskyy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Volodymyr_Zelenskyy>
Snooker is a cue sport played on a rectangular billiards table covered
with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets. First played by
British Army officers stationed in India circa 1875, the game uses
twenty-two balls (pictured) – a white cue ball, fifteen red balls,
and six other balls collectively called "the colours". Using a snooker
cue, individual players (or teams) take turns to strike the cue ball to
pot the other balls in a predefined sequence, accumulating points for
each successful pot and for each foul committed by the opposing
player/team. An individual frame of snooker is won by the player or team
that has scored the most points. A snooker match ends when a player/team
has won a predetermined number of frames. The standard rules of snooker
were first established in 1919. As a professional sport, snooker is
governed by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association.
Top players of many nationalities compete in regular tournaments around
the world, earning millions of pounds on the World Snooker Tour.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snooker>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1819:
Around 15 people were killed and 400 to 700 others injured when
cavalry charged into a crowd demanding the reform of parliamentary
representation in Manchester, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterloo_Massacre>
1891:
San Sebastian Church in Manila, an all-iron church, was
officially consecrated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Sebastian_Church_%28Manila%29>
1920:
Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians was hit by a pitch and
died the following day, becoming the only Major League Baseball player
to die directly as a result of injuries sustained during a game.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Chapman>
1929:
A long-running dispute between Muslims and Jews over access to
the Western Wall in Jerusalem escalated into a week-long period of
violent riots throughout Palestine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1929_Palestine_riots>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
by hook or by crook:
(idiomatic) By any means possible; one way or another.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/by_hook_or_by_crook>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Outward simplicity befits ordinary men, like a garment made to
measure for them; but it serves as an adornment to those who have filled
their lives with great deeds: they might be compared to some beauty
carelessly dressed and thereby all the more attractive.
--Les Caractères
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Les_Caract%C3%A8res>
The iMac G3, originally released as the iMac, is a series of personal
computers sold by Apple Computer from 1998 to 2003. Following Steve
Jobs's return to the financially troubled company that he co-founded, he
aggressively restructured its offerings. The iMac was envisioned as
Apple's new inexpensive and consumer-friendly desktop product, focused
on easy connection to the Internet. Apple's head of design Jony Ive and
his team created a striking teardrop-shaped all-in-one design based
around a cathode-ray tube display, shrouded in translucent colored
plastic. The iMac eschewed legacy technologies like serial ports and
floppy-disk drives in favor of CD-ROMs and USB ports. Selling more than
six million units, the iMac was a commercial success for Apple, helping
to save it from bankruptcy whilst influencing the look of future
computers and consumer products. The original model was revised several
times and was succeeded by the iMac G4 and eMac.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMac_G3>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1038:
Upon the death of his uncle Stephen I, Peter (depicted) became
the second king of Hungary.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter,_King_of_Hungary>
1909:
A military coup against the government of Dimitrios Rallis
began in the neighbourhood of Goudi in Athens, Greece.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goudi_coup>
1944:
World War II: Allied forces began Operation Dragoon, their
invasion of southern France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dragoon>
1998:
The Troubles: A car bomb attack carried out by the Real Irish
Republican Army killed 29 people and injured approximately 220 others in
Omagh, Northern Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omagh_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lakh:
1. One hundred thousand (100,000; or, with Indian digit grouping,
1,00,000).
2. One hundred thousand rupees.
3. (figurative) Often in the plural: an indefinitely large number; a
zillion.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lakh>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Do not be afraid of obstacles in your path, it does not matter
how great the forces are that stand in your way … Do not think that
anything is impossible when miracles are being worked on every side. If
you are true to yourself there is nothing to be afraid of. There is
nothing unattainable by truth, love and faith.
--Sri Aurobindo
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sri_Aurobindo>
Hudson Volcano is a volcano in the rugged mountains of southern Chile.
Lying in the Southern Volcanic Zone of the Andes, it was formed by the
subduction of the oceanic Nazca Plate under the continental South
American Plate. Hudson has the form of a 10-kilometre-wide (6-mile)
volcanic caldera filled with ice. The volcano has erupted numerous times
in the past 2.5 million years forming widespread tephra deposits, and
is the most active volcano in the region. Four large eruptions have
taken place in the past 20,000 years: 17,300–17,440 before present
(BP), 7,750 BP, 4,200 BP, and in 1991. The 7,750 BP eruption was
among the most intense volcanic eruptions in South America during the
Holocene, devastated the local ecosystem and may have caused substantial
shifts in human settlement and lifestyle. During the 1991 eruption,
volcanic ash covered a large area in Chile and Argentina, and was
deposited as far as Antarctica. The last eruption was in 2011.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Volcano>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1816:
The United Kingdom formally annexed the Tristan da Cunha
archipelago, administering the islands from the Cape Colony in South
Africa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_da_Cunha>
1941:
After a secret meeting in Newfoundland, British prime minister
Winston Churchill and U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (both
pictured) issued the Atlantic Charter, establishing a vision for a
post–World War II world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Charter>
2021:
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck in Haiti, killing at least
2,248 people and causing $1.5 billion in damages and economic loss.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Haiti_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
manipulatable:
Synonym of manipulable (“suitable for, or able to be subjected to,
manipulation”)
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/manipulatable>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Truth, to the human consciousness at least, is but that vitally
just relation of part to whole which is the very condition of life
itself. And the task before the imaginative writer, whether at the end
of the last century or all these aeons later, is the presentation of a
vision which to eye and ear and mind has the implicit proportions of
Truth.
--John Galsworthy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Galsworthy>
The national flag of Japan is a white rectangular flag with a large red
disc (representing the Sun) in the center. It is officially called
Nisshōki in Japanese, but more commonly known as the Hinomaru. Although
considered the de facto flag, it was designated as Japan's national flag
on 13 August 1999. In early Japanese history, the Hinomaru motif was
used on flags of daimyos and samurai. During the Meiji Restoration both
the Sun disc and the Rising Sun Ensign were symbols in the Japanese
Empire. Use of the Hinomaru was restricted during the American
occupation after World War II, but this was later relaxed. The flag is
not frequently displayed due to its association with extreme
nationalism. For nations occupied by Japan, the flag is considered to be
a symbol of aggression and imperialism. Despite negative connotations,
Western and Japanese sources claim that the flag is an enduring symbol
to the Japanese.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Japan>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1724:
Bach led the Thomanerchor in Leipzig in the first performance
of the chorale cantata, Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott, BWV 101.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimm_von_uns,_Herr,_du_treuer_Gott,_BWV_101>
1999:
The Act on National Flag and Anthem was adopted, formally
establishing the Hinomaru and "Kimigayo" as the Japanese national flag
and anthem, respectively.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_on_National_Flag_and_Anthem>
2004:
Merely 22 hours after Tropical Storm Bonnie struck the U.S.
state of Florida, Hurricane Charley inflicted further damage to the
region (example pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Charley>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fireball:
1. A ball of fire, especially one associated with an explosion, or
(fiction, mythology) thrown as a weapon.
2. (figurative)
3. (informal) A feisty, strong-willed person.
4. (baseball) Synonym of fastball (“a high-speed pitch of a baseball”)
5. (astronautics) A bright glow caused by a spacecraft re-entering an
atmosphere.
6. (astronomy) A meteor bright enough to cast shadows; a bolide.
7. (sailing) A class of sailing dinghy with a single trapeze and a
symmetrical spinnaker, sailed by a crew of two.
8. (weaponry, historical) A bag or ball filled with combustible material
which is thrown as a weapon or to set something alight.
9. (heraldry) A charge depicting a disc-shaped bombshell with flames
emitted from the top, or sometimes from the top, bottom, and on either
side.
10. (obsolete)
11. An emanation of St. Elmo's fire; also (later), of ball lightning.
12. A ball-shaped firelighter (“small block of a flammable substance,
typically a combination of sawdust and wax, used to light fires”).
13. A ball of heat-resistant material placed in a fire to slow down the
burning of the fuel.
14. (figurative) A statement intended to cause dissension or as a
provocation.
15. (slang) Excellent, terrific.
16. (transitive, fiction, chiefly fantasy, science fiction) To attack
(someone or something) with balls of fire.
17. (intransitive)
18. To explode in a ball of fire or flame.
19. (baseball) To pitch a baseball very fast.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fireball>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Perfection does not reveal itself to us as existent in the
beginning; but as something that ought to be, something new which we are
to help create. Somehow the secret of the universe is hidden in our
breast. Somehow the destinies of the universe depend upon our exertions.
--Felix Adler
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Felix_Adler>
Worlds is the debut studio album by American electronic music producer
Porter Robinson, released on August 12, 2014, by Astralwerks. Initially
known for his heavier bass-centric production, Robinson became
increasingly dissatisfied with the electronic dance music (EDM) genre,
believing it limited his artistic expression. Following the release of
his 2012 single "Language", Robinson decided to prioritize aesthetic and
emotional qualities in his work, taking inspiration from media that
evoked nostalgia for his childhood and integrating elements taken from
anime, films, and sounds from 1990s video games. The album was promoted
with four singles and later a tour (pictured) in North America and
Europe. Worlds was well-received by most critics, who praised it as
innovative and forecasted a promising career for Robinson, though others
felt the record lacked coherence or was unexciting. The album has been
retrospectively noted for its impact on the EDM scene.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worlds_%28Porter_Robinson_album%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1883:
The last known quagga (example pictured), a subspecies of the
plains zebra, died at Natura Artis Magistra, a zoo in Amsterdam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quagga>
1914:
World War I: Belgian troops won a victory at the Battle of
Halen, but were ultimately unable to stop the German invasion of
Belgium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Halen>
1944:
World War II: In Sant'Anna di Stazzema, Italy, the Waffen-SS
and the Brigate Nere murdered about 560 local villagers and refugees and
burned their bodies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sant%27Anna_di_Stazzema_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
youth is wasted on the young:
The young fail to appreciate or make good use of what they experience.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/youth_is_wasted_on_the_young>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We know that the Olympic Games cannot create peace. But the
Olympic Games can create a culture of peace that inspires the world.
This is why I call on everyone who shares this Olympic spirit: let us
live this culture of peace every single day.
--Thomas Bach
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Bach>
T2 was a torpedo boat of the Royal Yugoslav Navy. Originally a 250t-
class torpedo boat of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, commissioned on
11 August 1914 as 77T, she saw active service during World War I,
performing convoy, patrol, escort, minesweeping and minelaying tasks,
anti-submarine operations, and shore bombardment missions. Present in
the Bocche di Cattaro during the short-lived mutiny by Austro-Hungarian
sailors in early February 1918, members of her crew raised the red flag
but took no other mutinous actions. The boat was part of the escort
force for the Austro-Hungarian dreadnought Szent István when that ship
was sunk by Italian torpedo boats in June 1918. Following Austria-
Hungary's defeat in 1918, the boat was allocated to the Navy of the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which became the Royal Yugoslav
Navy in 1921, and was renamed T2. During the interwar period, Yugoslav
naval activity was limited by reduced budgets. Worn out after twenty-
five years of service, T2 was scrapped in 1939. (This article is part
of a featured topic: Ships of the Royal Yugoslav Navy.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Ships_of_the_Royal_…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1786:
Francis Light founded George Town (city hall pictured), the
first British settlement in Southeast Asia and the present-day capital
of the Malaysian state of Penang.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Town,_Penang>
1979:
Two Aeroflot passenger jets collided in mid-air near
Dniprodzerzhynsk in the Ukrainian SSR, killing all 178 people on both
aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Dniprodzerzhynsk_mid-air_collision>
1999:
Ken Levine's System Shock 2 was released to mediocre sales,
but later received critical acclaim and influenced subsequent first-
person shooter game design.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Shock_2>
2012:
At least 306 people were killed and 3,000 others injured in a
pair of earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_East_Azerbaijan_earthquakes>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
final whistle:
(sports) The blow of the whistle by the referee or other adjudicator
signifying the end of a match.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/final_whistle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In my writing, as much as I could, I tried to find the good, and
praise it.
--Alex Haley
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alex_Haley>
St Melangell's Church is a Grade I listed medieval building in the
former village of Pennant Melangell, in the Tanat Valley, Powys, Wales.
Built over a Bronze Age burial ground, the church was founded around the
8th century to commemorate the reputed grave of Melangell, a hermit and
abbess who founded a convent and sanctuary in the area. The current
church was built in the 12th century and has been renovated several
times, including major restoration work in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Archaeological excavation in the 20th century uncovered prehistoric and
early medieval activity. The church contains the reconstructed shrine to
Melangell, considered the oldest surviving Romanesque shrine in northern
Europe and which was a major pilgrimage site in medieval Wales. The
interior of the church holds a 15th-century rood screen depicting
Melangell's legend, two 14th-century effigies, paintings, and liturgical
fittings.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Melangell%27s_Church>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1934:
The Blue Lotus, the fifth volume of The Adventures of Tintin by
the Belgian cartoonist Hergé and noted for its emphasis on countering
negative misconceptions of Chinese people, began serialisation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Lotus>
1944:
The United States Forest Service authorized the use of Smokey
Bear as its mascot to replace Bambi.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokey_Bear>
1974:
On the verge of an impeachment and removal from office amid the
Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon became the first president of the
United States to resign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon>
2014:
Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American man, was killed
by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, resulting in widespread
protests and unrest.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Michael_Brown>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
one:
1. Used at the end of a sentence to highlight the characteristics of
someone or something.
2. Used at the end of a sentence to highlight the originator of
something.
3. A nominalizer used to form a noun phrase without a head noun.
4. (Singapore, Singlish, rare) Used as a relative pronoun at the end of
a relative clause.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/one>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The relations between parents and children are certainly not only
those of constraint. There is spontaneous mutual affection, which from
the first prompts the child to acts of generosity and even of self-
sacrifice, to very touching demonstrations which are in no way
prescribed. And here no doubt is the starting point for that morality of
good which we shall see developing alongside of the morality of right or
duty, and which in some persons completely replaces it.
--Jean Piaget
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget>
Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield (8 August 1874 – 4 November
1948), was the managing director and chairman of the Underground
Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) from 1910 to 1933, and the
chairman of the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) from 1933 to
1947. At a young age, he held senior positions in the tramway systems of
Detroit and New Jersey. In 1907 he was recruited by the UERL, where he
integrated the company's management and used advertising and public
relations to improve profits. As managing director of the UERL from
1910, he led the take-over of competing companies and operations to form
Combine, an integrated transport operation. He was Member of Parliament
for Ashton-under-Lyne from 1916 to 1920 and President of the Board of
Trade between 1916 and 1919. He returned to the UERL and then chaired it
and its successor the LPTB during the organisation's greatest period of
expansion between the two world wars, making it an exemplar of the best
form of public administration.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Stanley,_1st_Baron_Ashfield>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1919:
The Third Anglo-Afghan War ended with the United Kingdom
signing a treaty to recognise the independence of the Emirate of
Afghanistan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Anglo-Afghan_War>
1929:
The German airship Graf Zeppelin departed Lakehurst, New
Jersey, on a flight to circumnavigate the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_127_Graf_Zeppelin>
2009:
Nine people died when a tour helicopter and a small private
airplane collided over the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Hudson_River_mid-air_collision>
2014:
The World Health Organization declared the Western African
Ebola epidemic, which began in December 2013, to be a public health
emergency of international concern.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_African_Ebola_epidemic>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
libertarian:
1. One who advocates liberty, either generally or in relation to a
specific issue.
2. (philosophy) A believer in the freedom of thinking beings to choose
their own destiny (the doctrine of free will) as opposed to those who
believe the future is predetermined (the doctrine of necessity).
3. (politics) One who advocates libertarianism (“a political philosophy
maintaining that all persons are the absolute owners of their own lives,
and should be free to do whatever they wish with their persons or
property, provided they allow others that same liberty”); also, a member
of a political party supporting libertarianism.
4. (chiefly Ireland, UK) An antiauthoritarian believer in left-
libertarianism, a political doctrine that stresses both individual
freedom and social equality, and advocates shared ownership of natural
resources.
5. (chiefly US) A believer in right-libertarianism, a political doctrine
that emphasizes individual liberty and a lack of governmental
intervention, oversight, and regulation, both in economic matters (that
is, a belief in the free market) and in personal behaviour provided that
no one's rights are threatened or violated.
6. Advocating liberty; also, having a relative tendency towards liberty.
7. (philosophy) Relating to the doctrine of free will as opposed to the
doctrine of necessity.
8. (originally US, politics) Relating to, or advocating, libertarianism;
also, relating to a political party supporting libertarianism.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/libertarian>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The ultimate notion of right is that which tends to the universal
good; and when one's acting in a certain manner has this tendency, he
has a right thus to act.
--Francis Hutcheson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_Hutcheson_%28philosopher%29>
Blackrocks Brewery is a craft brewery in Marquette, Michigan. Taking the
name from a local landmark, former pharmaceutical salesmen David Manson
and Andy Langlois opened Blackrocks in 2010. They originally brewed
their products in the basement of a Victorian-style house (pictured),
and the building's two other floors were used as a taproom. By 2013,
persistent high demand for Blackrocks' beer led Manson and Langlois to
expand their brewing capacity, including the purchase and conversion of
a former Coca-Cola bottling plant. In the early 2020s, they expanded
Blackrocks' taproom into an adjacent property, which doubled its
available indoor area. Blackrocks produced 12,687 barrels of beer in
2023, up about 11 percent from the year prior, and they are the largest
craft brewery in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Their most popular beer is
51K, an American IPA named for a local ski marathon.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackrocks_Brewery>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1909:
Fifty-nine days after leaving New York City with three
passengers, Alice Huyler Ramsey arrived in San Francisco to become the
first woman to drive an automobile across the contiguous United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Huyler_Ramsey>
1944:
IBM presented the first program-controlled calculator to
Harvard University, after which it became known as the Mark I
(pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Mark_I>
1998:
Car bombs exploded simultaneously at the American embassies in
the East African capital cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi,
Kenya, killing more than 200 people and injuring more than 4,000 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_United_States_embassy_bombings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mend:
1. (transitive)
2. To physically repair (something that is broken, defaced, decayed,
torn, or otherwise damaged).
3. (figurative)
4. To add fuel to (a fire).
5. To correct or put right (an error, a fault, etc.); to rectify, to
remedy.
6. To put (something) in a better state; to ameliorate, to improve, to
reform, to set right.
7. To remove fault or sin from (someone, or their behaviour or
character); to improve morally, to reform.
8. In mend one's pace: to adjust (a pace or speed), especially to match
that of someone or something else; also, to quicken or speed up (a
pace).
9. (archaic) To correct or put right the defects, errors, or faults of
(something); to amend, to emend, to fix.
10. (archaic) To increase the quality of (someone or something); to
better, to improve on; also, to produce something better than (something
else).
11. (archaic) To make amends or reparation for (a wrong done); to atone.
12. (archaic except UK, regional) To restore (someone or something) to a
healthy state; to cure, to heal. [...]
13. (intransitive)
14. (figurative)
15. Of an illness: to become less severe; also, of an injury or wound,
or an injured body part: to get better, to heal.
16. Of a person: to become healthy again; to recover from illness.
17. (archaic) Now only in least said, soonest mended: to make amends or
reparation.
18. (chiefly Scotland) To become morally improved or reformed. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mend>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Thank you, Madam Vice-President, for the trust we have put in me
— but maybe more so, thank you for bringing back the joy.
--Tim Walz
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tim_Walz>
Existence is the state of having being or reality. It is often
contrasted with essence, since one can understand the essential features
of something without knowing whether it exists. Ontology studies
existence and differentiates between singular existence of individual
entities and general existence of concepts or universals. Entities
present in space and time have concrete existence, in contrast to
abstract entities, like numbers and sets. Other distinctions are between
possible, contingent, and necessary existence and between physical and
mental existence. Some philosophers talk of degrees of existence but the
more common view is that an entity either exists or not, with no
intermediary states. It is controversial whether existence can be
understood as a property of individual objects and, if so, whether there
are nonexistent objects. The concept of existence has a long history and
played a role in the ancient period in pre-Socratic, Hindu, Buddhist,
and Daoist philosophy.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existence>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1623:
After the death of Gregory XV, a papal conclave in Rome
elected Maffeo Barberini as Pope Urban VIII.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1623_papal_conclave>
1944:
World War II: Allied forces attacked German fortifications at
Saint-Malo, France, beginning the Battle of Saint-Malo (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Saint-Malo>
1979:
An earthquake struck along the Calaveras Fault near Coyote
Lake, California, injuring sixteen people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Coyote_Lake_earthquake>
1997:
Korean Air Flight 801 crashed into a hill on approach to
Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport in Guam, killing 228 of the 254
people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Flight_801>
2011:
A series of riots broke out in several London boroughs and in
cities and towns across England in response to the shooting of Mark
Duggan by Metropolitan Police officers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Mark_Duggan>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
nothingburger:
1. An unimportant person; a nobody, a nonentity.
2. Something of less importance than its treatment suggests; also,
something which is bland or unremarkable in appearance or impact.
3. (originally and chiefly US, informal) Of less importance than its
treatment suggests; insignificant, unimportant; also, bland or
unremarkable in appearance or impact.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nothingburger>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Not in vain the distance beacons. Forward, forward let us range.
Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change.
--Locksley Hall
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Locksley_Hall>
Alice of Champagne (c. 1193 – 1246) was the eldest daughter of
Queen Isabella I of Jerusalem and Count Henry II of Champagne. In
1210, Alice married her stepbrother King Hugh I of Cyprus, receiving
the County of Jaffa as dowry. After her husband's death in 1218, she
assumed the regency for their infant son, King Henry I. Her attempts to
bolster her claim to Champagne and Brie in France failed. Due to a
debate with her uncle Philip of Ibelin, she left Cyprus in 1223. In
exile, she married Bohemond, the heir apparent to the Principality of
Antioch and the County of Tripoli, but their marriage was annulled. In
1229, she unsuccessfully laid claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem against
the absent Conrad II. In 1240, she married Raoul of Nesle and the High
Court of Jerusalem proclaimed them regents for Conrad in 1243, although
their power was nominal. Raoul left the kingdom, and Alice, before the
end of the year. Alice retained the regency until her death in 1246.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_of_Champagne>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1716:
Austro-Turkish War: The Ottoman army were defeated in their
attempt to capture the Habsburgs-controlled Petrovaradin Fortress
despite having double the number of soldiers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Petrovaradin>
1816:
Sir John Barrow, secretary at the Admiralty, rejected a
proposal to use Francis Ronalds's electrical telegraph, deeming it
"wholly unnecessary".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Ronalds>
1888:
Bertha Benz made the first long-distance automobile trip,
driving 106 km (66 mi) from Mannheim to Pforzheim, Germany, in a Benz
Patent-Motorwagen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_Benz>
1949:
An earthquake registering 6.4 Ms struck near Ambato, Ecuador,
killing 5,050 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1949_Ambato_earthquake>
1984:
A Biman Bangladesh Airlines aircraft crashed while attempting
to land in Dhaka, killing 49 people in the deadliest aviation accident
in Bangladeshi history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Biman_Bangladesh_Airlines_Fokker_F27_cra…>
2012:
An American white supremacist carried out a mass shooting at a
Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six people and wounding
four others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Sikh_temple_shooting>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sub rosa:
1. Covertly or in secret; confidentially, privately, secretly.
2. Carried out confidentially or secretly.
3. Not formally stated; implicit, tacit, unspoken.
4. (US, law, slang) Covert surveillance video used as evidence against
applicants for workers' compensation to show they are not in fact
(seriously) injured.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sub_rosa>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A century hence, 2000 may be viewed as quite a primitive period
in human history. It's something to hope for. ... I am, and ever will
be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer — born under the
second law of thermodynamics, steeped in the steam tables, in love with
free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace, and propelled by
compressible flow. As an engineer, I take a substantial amount of pride
in the accomplishments of my profession.
--Neil Armstrong
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong>
The Aston Martin Rapide is an executive sports saloon car that was
produced by the British carmaker Aston Martin between 2010 and 2020.
Development of the car commenced in 2005, and after about two months, a
concept car, called the Rapide, was completed and displayed at the North
American International Auto Show in 2006. In 2009, three years after the
concept's unveiling, the production version debuted at the International
Motor Show Germany. Official manufacture of the car began on 7 May
2010, at Magna Steyr's facility in Graz, Austria, but production was
shifted to Gaydon, Warwickshire, in 2012 after Aston Martin received
funding from the British government. Over its production run, the Rapide
received two major updates, with the introduction of the Rapide S
(pictured) in 2013 and the Rapide AMR in 2018. A battery electric
version of the Rapide, called the Rapide E, was introduced in 2018 but
Aston Martin announced in 2020 that it would not be series produced.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aston_Martin_Rapide>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1914:
World War I: Adhering to the terms of the Treaty of London,
the United Kingdom declared war on Germany in response to the latter's
invasion of Belgium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_invasion_of_Belgium_%281914%29>
1953:
Alfred C. Glassell Jr. caught a black marlin weighing
1,560 lb (710 kg) off the coast of Peru, setting the record for the
largest bony fish caught by hand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_C._Glassell_Jr.>
1997:
French supercentenarian Jeanne Calment died at the age of 122
years, 164 days, with the longest confirmed human lifespan in history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment>
2014:
Julieka Ivanna Dhu, an Aboriginal Australian woman, died in
police custody after her deteriorating condition was mocked and ignored.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Ms_Dhu>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
antipathy:
1. (uncountable) Often followed by against, between, for, or to: a
(deep) feeling of dislike or repugnance, normally towards a person and
less often towards a thing, often without any conscious reasoning;
aversion, distaste, hostility; (countable) an instance of this.
2. (uncountable) Natural contrariety or incompatibility between things,
as a result of which they negatively affect or oppose each other;
(countable) an instance of this.
3. (countable) A person or thing that one has a (deep) feeling of
dislike or repugnance towards; an anathema, a bête noire, a bugbear.
4. (countable, obsolete) A person or thing that has a (deep) feeling of
dislike or repugnance towards another person or thing; a hater.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/antipathy>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We've been warned against offering the people of this nation
false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never
been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible
odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't
try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a
simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes we can.
--Barack Obama
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>
Free and Candid Disquisitions is an anonymously published 1749 pamphlet
written and compiled by John Jones, a Welsh clergyman of the Church of
England. The work promoted a series of reforms to the church and the
Book of Common Prayer that Jones hoped would allow the more Protestant
and independent Dissenters to be reintegrated into the church. Jones's
proposals included shortening the Sunday liturgies, removing Catholic
ritual influences, and providing improved hymns and psalms. Several
responding texts were written, both lauding and criticizing Jones's
work. While the proposals were not accepted by the Church of England,
Jones's suggested alterations to the prayer book and advocacy of
privately published liturgies influenced several Dissenter liturgical
texts and early editions of the American Episcopal Church's prayer book.
The pamphlet remained a major influence on proposed liturgical changes
in the Church of England until the 19th-century Tractarian movement.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_Candid_Disquisitions>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1903:
Macedonian rebels in Kruševo proclaimed a republic, which
existed for ten days before Ottoman forces destroyed the town.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kru%C5%A1evo_Republic>
1936:
African-American athlete Jesse Owens won the first of his four
gold medals at the Berlin Olympics, dashing Nazi leaders' hopes of Aryan
domination at the games.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens>
1971:
Fighting Dinosaurs, a fossil specimen featuring a Velociraptor
and a Protoceratops in combat, was unearthed in the Djadochta Formation
of Mongolia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protoceratops>
1997:
The Sky Tower, then the tallest free-standing structure in the
Southern Hemisphere at 328 m (1,076 ft), opened in Auckland, New
Zealand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Tower_%28Auckland%29>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
get in the boat and row:
(intransitive, idiomatic) To make a substantial effort, especially in
cooperation with others in a group; also, to perform one's share of
work.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/get_in_the_boat_and_row>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I should not proceed by land to the East, as is customary, but by
a Westerly route, in which direction we have hitherto no certain
evidence that any one has gone.
--Christopher Columbus
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus>
Charles Edward (1884–1954) was at various times a British prince, the
last ruling duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in Germany, and a Nazi
politician. Brought up in the United Kingdom, he was selected to succeed
to the throne of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1899 because he was deemed
young enough to be re-educated as a German. He married Princess Victoria
Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein and the couple had five children. Charles
Edward was a conservative ruler with an interest in art and technology.
During the First World War, he supported the German Empire but was
deposed during the German Revolution. During the 1920s, Charles Edward
became a moral and financial supporter of violent far-right paramilitary
groups, joining the Nazi Party in 1933. He was given multiple positions,
including leader of the German Red Cross, and acted as an unofficial
diplomat. After the war, he was interned for a period and given a minor
conviction by a denazification court, dying of cancer in 1954.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Edward,_Duke_of_Saxe-Coburg_and_Gotha>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1100:
While on a hunting trip in the New Forest, King William II of
England was killed by an arrow through the lung loosed by one of his own
men.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_II_of_England>
1790:
The first United States census was officially completed, with
the nation's residential population enumerated to be 3,929,214.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1790_United_States_census>
1920:
Nepalese author Krishna Lal Adhikari was sentenced to nine
years in prison for publishing a book about the cultivation of corn.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makaiko_Kheti>
1973:
A flash fire killed 50 people at a leisure centre in Douglas,
Isle of Man.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summerland_disaster>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
there must be something in the water:
(idiomatic, humorous) There are so many instances of something unusual,
such as in people's behaviour, that there must be a common cause.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/there_must_be_something_in_the_water>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Today is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends
in this world — friends you can trust, work with, and depend upon,
especially on matters of great consequence and sensitivity like this.
Our alliances make our people safer, and we began to see that again
today. Let me say this. It says a lot about the United States that we
work relentlessly to free Americans who are unjustly held around the
world. It also says a lot about us that this deal includes the release
of Russian political prisoners. They stood up for democracy and human
rights. Their own leaders threw them in prison. The United States helped
secure their release as well. That’s who we are in the United States.
We stand for freedom, for liberty, for justice — not only for our own
people but for others as well. And that’s why all Americans can take
pride in what we’ve achieved today.
--Joe Biden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden>
The Homeric Hymns are a collection of thirty-three ancient Greek hymns
and one epigram. They praise deities of the Greek pantheon and retell
mythological stories, such as the abduction of Persephone and the
seduction of Anchises by Aphrodite. In antiquity, the hymns were
generally attributed to the poet Homer: modern scholarship has
established that they vary widely in date. Performances of the hymns may
have taken place at sympotic banquets, religious festivals and royal
courts. They may originally have been performed by singers accompanying
themselves on a lyre. The hymns influenced Alexandrian and Roman poets,
and both pagan and early Christian literature. They were first published
in print by Demetrios Chalkokondyles in 1488–1489, while George
Chapman made the first English translation of them in 1624. They have
since influenced, among others, Handel, Goethe, Shelley, Tennyson and
Cavafy. Their influence has also been traced in the novels of James
Joyce and Neil Gaiman, and in the films of Alfred Hitchcock.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeric_Hymns>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
902:
Arab–Byzantine wars: Led by Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya, Aghlabid
forces captured the Byzantine stronghold of Taormina, concluding the
Muslim conquest of Sicily.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_conquest_of_Sicily>
1774:
British scientist Joseph Priestley liberated oxygen gas,
corroborating the discovery of the element by the German-Swedish chemist
Carl Wilhelm Scheele.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen>
1892:
Jef Denyn hosted the world's first carillon concert at
St. Rumbold's Cathedral in Mechelen, Belgium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carillon>
1911:
Harriet Quimby became the first woman to earn an Aero Club of
America aviator certificate.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Quimby>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
round robin:
1. (also attributive) Senses relating to something with a round shape,
or which goes around.
2. (originally nautical) A document (usually containing a complaint or
petition) originally with the signatures arranged in a circle, and later
often alphabetically, to disguise the order of signing and to indicate
that the signatories are collectively responsible for it.
3. A letter which is reproduced and sent to several people;
specifically, one containing personal news sent at a particular time of
year, often Christmas; a circular letter.
4. A letter or piece of writing which is circulated among members of a
group, to which each person makes a contribution before sending it to
another person; also, a packet of letters circulated regularly in a
fixed order among a group (often family members), whereby each person
replaces their previous contribution with a new letter, and then sends
the packet to the next recipient.
5. A form of trading involving a packet of items which is circulated
among members of a group, whereby each person take the items they want
and replaces them with items of similar value, and then sends the packet
to the next recipient.
6. (figurative) A long, often tedious, list or piece of writing; a
laundry list, a litany.
7. (computing) A method of making use of several similar subsystems,
assigning tasks to each of them in turn (for example, sending data to a
destination down several communication links in turn to achieve greater
combined speed).
8. (gambling) A form of bet on the full set of possible combinations
from a group of events, racehorses, teams, etc., such as the outcomes A
and B, B and C, and A and C from a group consisting of A, B, and C.
9. (music) The MIDI technique of using different sampled versions of the
same sound for successive notes, to avoid an unnaturally repetitive
effect.
10. (online gaming) A method of dividing loot among a party of players
by having the game assign loot, or an enemy corpse to loot, to each
player in turn.
11. (Devon, archaic) A small pancake.
12. (originally US) A group activity in which the members take turns to
perform an action.
13. (originally US, sports, often attributive) The part of a tournament
in which every player or team competes against each of the others in
turn.
14. (obsolete except historical)
15. (Christianity, derogatory) The consecrated host used in the
Eucharist.
16. (clothing) A small ruff worn around the neck.
17. (obsolete, road transport) A rim attached to the end of an axle of a
horse carriage to prevent dirt from obstructing the axle's rotation;
also, a loop from which a component of a horse carriage (such as a pole
or spring) is suspended. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/round_robin>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
O Nature, and O soul of man! how far beyond all utterance are
your linked analogies; not the smallest atom stirs or lives on matter,
but has its cunning duplicate in mind.
--Moby-Dick
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moby-Dick>