The Rhodesian government actively recruited white personnel from other
countries from the mid-1970s until 1980 to address manpower shortages in
the Rhodesian Security Forces during the Rhodesian Bush War. Between 800
and 2,000 foreign volunteers enlisted. This was controversial as
international sanctions banned military assistance for Rhodesia due to
its illegal declaration of independence and the white minority's
dominance. The volunteers were often labelled as mercenaries by
opponents of the Rhodesian regime, though the government did not regard
or pay them as such. They were motivated by opposition to governments
led by black people, anti-communism, a desire for adventure, racism, and
economic hardship. The Rhodesian government considered the volunteers to
be unreliable and they were often treated poorly by their comrades; this
contributed to many deserting. Some modern far-right and white
supremacist groups celebrate the volunteers. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_volunteers_in_the_Rhodesian_Security_…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1872:
HMS Challenger departed Portsmouth on a scientific expedition
that laid the foundations of oceanography.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Challenger_%281858%29>
1919:
After serving two years in prison for encouraging people to
resist military conscription, anarchist Emma Goldman was deported from
the United States to Russia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Goldman>
1934:
Lieutenant Kijé, the first film composition by Sergei
Prokofiev, premiered.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_Kij%C3%A9_%28Prokofiev%29>
1995:
In accordance with the Oslo II Accord, Israeli troops withdrew
from Bethlehem in preparation for the transfer of control to the
Palestinian National Authority.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlehem>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ransack:
1. (transitive)
2. To search (a place, through things, etc.) thoroughly, especially when
vigorous and leaving behind a state of disarray.
3. To search (someone or a place) thoroughly in order to steal
something, especially when vigorous and leaving behind a state of
disarray; hence, to rob (someone or a place); to plunder.
4. (chiefly passive voice) To search for and steal (something) as
plunder.
5. (figurative, archaic) To examine (someone or something) carefully; to
investigate; also, to question (someone) thoroughly; to interrogate.
6. (obsolete)
7. To look for or seek out (someone).
8. To search (someone) for a thing.
9. (figurative) Synonym of penetrate (“to make way into the interior of
(something); to pierce”); also, synonym of pervade (“to enter and spread
through (something); to permeate”).
10. (intransitive)
11. To search thoroughly, especially when leaving behind a state of
disarray.
12. (archaic) To search for and steal things.
13. Synonym of ransacking (“an act of ransacking (“searching thoroughly
(in order to steal); etc.”) someone or something; an eager search”).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ransack>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Art is at least in part a way of collecting information about the
universe.
--Rebecca West
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rebecca_West>
The battle of Bronkhorstspruit was the first major engagement of the
First Boer War. It took place by the Bronkhorstspruit river near
Bronkhorstspruit in Transvaal on 20 December 1880. Threatened by the
growing numbers of militant Boers in the Pretoria region, the British
recalled the 94th Regiment of Foot, which had several companies
garrisoned in towns and villages across the wider area. The regiment's
commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Philip Robert Anstruther, led a
34-wagon column on a 188-mile (303 km) journey from Lydenburg to
Pretoria. A Boer commando force, led by Francois Gerhardus Joubert, was
ordered to stop the British. Anstruther's column was confronted by the
Boers, who demanded that the British stop their march. Anstruther
refused, and the Boers attacked. The British took heavy casualties and
surrendered after about 15 minutes; their surviving men were captured.
Anstruther was badly wounded and died of his injuries a few days later.
(Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bronkhorstspruit>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1984:
Twelve-year-old Jonelle Matthews disappeared from her home in
Greeley, Colorado; her body was not discovered until 2019.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jonelle_Matthews>
1987:
The deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in history occurred
when the MV Doña Paz sank after colliding with an oil tanker in the
Tablas Strait in the Philippines, resulting in an estimated 4,385
deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Do%C3%B1a_Paz>
1995:
American Airlines Flight 965 crashed into a mountain in Buga,
Colombia, killing most of those on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_965>
2007:
Pablo Picasso's Portrait of Suzanne Bloch was stolen from the
São Paulo Museum of Art before being recovered about three weeks later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Suzanne_Bloch>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gnisrap:
(programming) The cognitive process of creating a mental model of a
computer program by reading the code.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gnisrap>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Corruption is a tree, whose branches areOf an immeasurable
length: they spreadEv'rywhere; and the dew that drops from thenceHath
infected some chairs and stools of authority.
--John Fletcher
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Fletcher>
The Getaway is a 1972 American action thriller film based on the 1958
novel by Jim Thompson. The film was directed by Sam Peckinpah, written
by Walter Hill, and stars Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw (pictured), Ben
Johnson, Al Lettieri, and Sally Struthers. The plot follows imprisoned
mastermind robber Carter "Doc" McCoy, whose wife Carol conspires for his
release on the condition they rob a bank in Texas. A double-cross
follows the crime, and the McCoys are forced to flee for Mexico with the
police and criminals in hot pursuit. The Getaway premiered on
December 19, 1972. Despite the negative reviews it received upon
release, numerous retrospective critics give the film good reviews. A
box-office hit earning more than $36 million, it was the eighth
highest-grossing film of 1972, and one of the most financially
successful productions of Peckinpah's and McQueen's careers. A film
remake starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger was released in 1994.
(Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Getaway_%281972_film%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1964:
The ruling junta of South Vietnam, led by Nguyễn Khánh,
initiated a coup, dissolving the High National Council, a civilian
advisory body.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_1964_South_Vietnamese_coup>
1984:
China and the United Kingdom signed the Sino-British Joint
Declaration, agreeing to the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to
China on 1 July 1997.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-British_Joint_Declaration>
1985:
Aeroflot Flight 101/435 was hijacked by the co-pilot and
landed in a cow pasture in China, where he was apprehended.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_101/435>
1997:
Titanic, the third-highest-grossing film of all time with a
worldwide total of more than US$1.8 billion, was released in the United
States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_%281997_film%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cellar door:
1. A door leading to a cellar.
2. (by extension, metonymic) Part of a winery from which wine may be
sampled or purchased.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cellar_door>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Time takes her toll and the memory fades but his glory is
broken, in the magic that he made. Reality is ruined; it's the freeing
from the fear The drama is distorted, to what they want to hear
Swimming in their sorrow, in the twisting of a tear As they wait for a
new thrill parade.
--Phil Ochs
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Phil_Ochs>
A Caesar cipher, also known as Caesar's cipher, the shift cipher,
Caesar's code, or the Caesar shift, is one of the simplest and most
widely known encryption techniques in cryptography. Named after Julius
Caesar, who is said to have used it, it is a type of substitution cipher
in which each letter in the plaintext is replaced by a letter some fixed
number of positions down the alphabet. For example, with a left shift of
3, D would be replaced by A, E would become B, and so on (pictured).
Caesar is believed to have used one in his private correspondence, and a
similar one was used by his nephew, Augustus. The encryption step
performed by a Caesar cipher is often incorporated as part of more
complex schemes, such as the Vigenère cipher, and still has modern
application in the ROT13 system. As with all single-alphabet
substitution ciphers, the Caesar cipher is easily broken and in modern
practice offers essentially no communications security.
(Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_cipher>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1792:
Thomas Paine (depicted) was found guilty of seditious libel for
the publication of the second part of his book Rights of Man.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Thomas_Paine>
1867:
In Angola, New York, the last coach of a Lake Shore Railway
train derailed, plunged 40 feet (12 m) down a gully, and caught fire,
resulting in approximately 49 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angola_Horror>
1939:
Second World War: The Luftwaffe won a victory over the Royal
Air Force in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight, greatly influencing
both sides' future aerial warfare strategy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Heligoland_Bight_%281939%29>
2023:
A series of mass protests began in Belgrade, Serbia, alleging
electoral irregularities in the Serbian parliament and Belgrade city
assembly elections.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Serbian_election_protests>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sidequest:
1. (fiction, history) In fictional or historical writings about
chivalric romances: a quest embarked upon by a knight or other person
which is not the main quest.
2. (video games) A quest given to a player which has no direct bearing
on the outcome of the main campaign or story of a video game, but often
provides additional rewards.
3. (by extension, Internet slang) A real-world action or task which a
person does in addition to or instead of a main action or task.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sidequest>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I don't know what I'm crying for I don't think I could love you
more It might not be long, but baby, I I'll love you 'til the day
that I die 'Til the day that I die 'Til the light leaves my eyes 'Til
the day that I die.
--Billie Eilish
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Billie_Eilish>
Around June 1447, John Greenwell was poisoned by a monk, William
Downom. The abbot of Fountains Abbey (ruins pictured), Greenwell led the
richest abbey in England; his office made him an important figure in
Yorkshire. The first half of the century saw the abbey wracked with
internal strife, including a disputed election which had violent
repercussions as well as, possibly, embezzlement. Greenwell appears to
have brought a degree of peace to the abbey upon his election, but he
does not seem to have been popular. Downom poisoned a dish of pottage,
which he attempted to feed to Greenwell while he was sick. He survived
the poisoning, and the case became notorious. Although it took over a
year and discussions with Fountains' motherhouse of Cîteaux Abbey,
Downom was eventually expelled. Greenwell remained controversial and was
both accused and accuser in local lawsuits, and incurred the distrust of
King Edward IV for his political leanings. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Abbot_Greenwell>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
American Civil War: Union General Ulysses S. Grant issued
General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and
Kentucky.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Order_No._11_%281862%29>
1939:
World War II: After sustaining moderate damage in the Battle of
the River Plate two days earlier, the German cruiser Graf Spee was
scuttled by its commander, Hans Langsdorff, to avoid its internment by
Uruguay.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_cruiser_Admiral_Graf_Spee>
1945:
The modern flag of Kurdistan was raised for the first time in
Mahabad, Iran.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Kurdistan>
1990:
American gay rights activist William E. Woods brought three
same-sex couples to fill out marriage licenses in Honolulu, leading to
the eventual legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Woods>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
choleric:
1. Senses relating to choler or yellow bile (“one of the four humours
formerly believed to be secreted by the liver”).
2. (medicine, historical)
3. Of or relating to choler.
4. Of a person: having an excess of choler, and thus having a tendency
to become angry easily; also, of a person's complexion or temperament:
dominated by choler.
5. (astrology, historical) Of a planet or zodiac sign, season, etc.:
affecting people having an excess of choler, causing anger or
irritability.
6. (obsolete)
7. Of a disease or symptom: caused by choler, especially when abnormal
or excessive.
8. Of a body organ: affected by or containing choler, especially when
abnormal or excessive.
9. Of food: causing an excess of choler in the body.
10. (by extension)
11. Of a person: having a tendency to become angry easily; bad-tempered,
irritable; also, feeling or showing anger; angry, enraged.
12. Of an act, feeling, words, etc.: arising from or showing anger.
13. (obsolete) hot; also, hot and dry.
14. Senses relating to cholera (“any of several acute infectious
diseases caused by certain strains of the Vibrio cholerae bacterium”).
15.
16. (medicine) Synonym of choleraic (“of or relating to cholera; also,
affected by cholera”).
17. Senses relating to choler.
18. (medicine, historical) A person having an excess of choler, and thus
having a tendency to become angry easily; preceded by the: such people
collectively.
19. (by extension) A person having a tendency to become angry easily;
preceded by the: such people collectively.
20. Senses relating to cholera.
21.
22. (medicine, obsolete) Synonym of choleraic (“a person suffering from
cholera”).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/choleric>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You ask me if the God of the Christians forgives those who
don’t believe and who don’t seek the faith. I start by saying —
and this is the fundamental thing — that God’s mercy has no limits
if you go to him with a sincere and contrite heart. The issue for those
who do not believe in God is to obey their conscience.
--Pope Francis
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pope_Francis>
The Littlehampton libels were a series of letters sent to numerous
residents of Littlehampton, in southern England, over a three-year
period between 1920 and 1923. The letters, which contained obscenities
and false accusations, were written by Edith Swan, a thirty-year-old
laundress; she tried to incriminate her neighbour, Rose Gooding, a
thirty-year-old married woman. Swan and Gooding (both pictured) had once
been friends, but after Swan made a false report to the National Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children accusing Gooding of
maltreating one of her sister's children, the letters started arriving.
Many of them were signed as if from Gooding. Swan brought a private
prosecution against Gooding for libel. Gooding was imprisoned twice, but
Scotland Yard investigated and cleared her. Swan was prosecuted in
December 1921. A similar case of letters being sent over several years
was reported in 2024, in the village of Shiptonthorpe, East Yorkshire.
(Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littlehampton_libels>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1850:
Settlers of the Canterbury Association aboard Randolph and
Charlotte Jane arrived to establish a colony at Christchurch, New
Zealand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canterbury_Association>
1922:
Gabriel Narutowicz, the first president of Poland, was
assassinated only five days after having taken office.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Gabriel_Narutowicz>
1930:
German-American gangster Herman Lamm killed himself during a
botched robbery attempt in Clinton, Indiana, to avoid being captured by
police.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Lamm>
1997:
"Dennō Senshi Porygon", an episode of the Japanese television
series Pokémon, induced epileptic seizures in 685 children.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denn%C5%8D_Senshi_Porygon>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sensibility:
1. (countable, uncountable, often in the plural) Emotions or feelings
arising from or relating to aesthetic or moral standards, especially
those which are sensitive and thus likely to be hurt or offended.
2. (uncountable) The ability to feel, perceive, or sense; responsiveness
to sensory stimuli; sensitivity; also, the degree to which someone or
something (especially a sensory organ or tissue) is able to respond to
sensory stimuli.
3. (uncountable) The quality of being easily affected by external forces
or stimuli; also, of a measuring instrument: the quality of being able
to detect small changes in the environment.
4. (uncountable) Keen sensitivity to matters of creative expression or
feeling; artistic or emotional awareness.
5. (specifically, archaic) Affected or excessive artistic or emotional
awareness; the fact or quality of being overemotional; overemotionality.
6. (uncountable, archaic)
7. Awareness; also, understanding.
8. The capacity of something to be perceived by the senses;
perceptibility.
9. (botany) Of a plant or one of its parts: the ability to move in
response to a stimulus.
10. (uncountable, philosophy) The ability to perceive or sense as
opposed to the ability to understand; also, in the philosophy of the
German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804): emotion or feeling as
opposed to the will.
11. (countable, obsolete)
12. An emotional sense or understanding of something.
13. A sign or token of appreciation or gratitude.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sensibility>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
As you get older, all those dumb clichés, they’re all true.
You only have a certain amount of time left, and you should only spend
it doing the things that you want to do.
--Rob Reiner
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rob_Reiner>
Simon Cameron (1799–1889) was an American politician who was elected
senator from Pennsylvania four times, and was War Secretary under
Lincoln at the start of the Civil War. At first a supporter of James
Buchanan, whom he succeeded in the Senate when Buchanan became Secretary
of State in 1845, Cameron broke with Buchanan and the Democrats by the
1850s. An opponent of slavery, he briefly joined the Know Nothings
before winning another term in the Senate as a Republican in 1857. He
helped nominate and elect Lincoln, but rumors of corruption surrounded
him; it was with reluctance that Lincoln appointed him to the cabinet.
He did not do well in his post, and Lincoln made him minister to Russia
in 1862, a post he held briefly. He rebuilt his political machine in
Pennsylvania, winning a third term in the Senate in 1867. After ten
years he resigned, arranging the election of his son, Don Cameron, in
his place. Simon Cameron lived to age 90; his machine dominated local
politics until the 1920s. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Cameron>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1890:
Sitting Bull, a Hunkpapa Lakota leader, was killed on Standing
Rock Sioux Reservation in South Dakota by U.S. Indian agency police.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitting_Bull>
1939:
The American historical epic film Gone With the Wind, adapted
from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of the same
name, premiered in Atlanta, Georgia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind_%28film%29>
1945:
The US-led occupying forces ordered the government of Japan to
cease state support for Shinto.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Shinto>
2019:
Citizenship Amendment Act protests: 10 to 15 local women
blockaded a major road in Delhi, India, to protest the exclusion of
Muslims from the amended Citizenship Act.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaheen_Bagh_protest>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mothball:
1. To store (clothing, etc.) with mothballs (noun sense 1).
2. (figurative, chiefly passive voice)
3. To stop using (something), and often to put it in storage;
specifically, while keeping it in good condition so it can be used in
the future.
4. To stop work on (a plan, project, etc.) for the time being; to
postpone, to shelve.
5. (chiefly in the plural) A small ball of chemical pesticide
(originally camphor and now typically naphthalene or
paradichlorobenzene) and deodorant placed in or around clothing and
other articles to deter moth larvae which may damage them.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mothball>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The great ideas are always emerging, to be available to all men
and women. And one hope of our lives is the communication of these
truths.
--Muriel Rukeyser
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Muriel_Rukeyser>
Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons is a three-part, episodic,
side-scrolling, platform video game by Ideas from the Deep and published
by Apogee Software in 1990 for MS-DOS. Tom Hall (pictured) designed the
game, John Carmack and John Romero programmed it, and artist Adrian
Carmack assisted. The game came about when Carmack found a way to
implement smooth side-scrolling on IBM-compatible PCs, and Scott Miller
asked the team to develop an original game within three months. The game
follows Keen as he runs, jumps, and shoots through various levels,
retrieving the stolen parts of his spaceship, preventing an alien ship
from destroying landmarks, and hunting down the aliens responsible.
Released through shareware, sales were strong and it was lauded by
reviewers for its graphical achievement and humorous style. The team
continued as id Software to produce another four episodes of the
Commander Keen series and followed up with Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. It
has been re-released several times. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commander_Keen_in_Invasion_of_the_Vorticons>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1925:
Wozzeck (poster pictured) by composer Alban Berg, described as
the first atonal opera, premiered at the Berlin State Opera.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wozzeck>
1948:
American physicists Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann
were awarded a patent for their cathode-ray tube amusement device, the
first interactive electronic game.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode-ray_tube_amusement_device>
1960:
Australian cricketer Ian Meckiff was run out on the last day of
the first Test match between Australia and the West Indies, resulting in
the first tied Test in cricket history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Meckiff>
1992:
War in Abkhazia: A helicopter carrying evacuees was shot down
during the siege of Tkvarcheli, resulting in at least 52 deaths and
catalysing more concerted Russian military intervention on behalf of
Abkhazia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Tkvarcheli>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
shulgoer:
(Judaism) One who attends shul (“a synagogue”); a practising Jew.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shulgoer>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You're trying to make senseof something that you just don't see
You're trying to make sense nowand you know you once held the keyBut
that was the riverthis is the sea.
--Mike Scott
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mike_Scott_%28Scottish_musician%29>
Scott Zolak (born December 13, 1967) is an American broadcaster and
former professional football player. He played quarterback in the
National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons, primarily with the New
England Patriots. Over the course of his career, he played in 55 games,
with 7 starts, for the Patriots and Miami Dolphins, completed 124 of 248
passes for 1,314 yards, threw eight touchdowns and seven interceptions,
and finished his career with a passer rating of 64.8. A graduate of the
University of Maryland, Zolak was selected 84th in the 1991 NFL draft by
the New England Patriots. He did not play in 1991, but started four
games in 1992 and had his most productive season statistically. When
Drew Bledsoe was drafted in 1993, Zolak became his backup for the next
six seasons. He was released at the end of the 1998 season, and signed
with the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins in 1999. After his retirement,
he became a sportscaster and football analyst in the New England area.
(Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Zolak>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1577:
Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-
the-world voyage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Drake%27s_circumnavigation>
1862:
American Civil War: Union forces under Ambrose Burnside
suffered severe casualties against entrenched Confederate defenders at
the Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fredericksburg>
1957:
A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck the Iranian Hamadan province,
killing at least 1,130 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957_Farsinaj_earthquake>
1960:
With Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, out of the country,
four conspirators staged a coup attempt to install Crown Prince Asfaw
Wossen on the throne.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_Ethiopian_coup_attempt>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
skein:
1. A quantity of thread, yarn, etc., wound on a reel then removed and
loosely knotted into an oblong shape; a skein of cotton is formed by
eighty turns of thread around a reel with a fifty-four inch diameter.
2. (by extension) A thing resembling a skein (noun sense 1) of thread,
yarn, etc.
3. (ichthyology) The membrane of a fish ovary.
4. (UK, dialectal, ornithology, collective) A group of wildfowl (for
example, geese or swans) in flight.
5. (obsolete, biochemistry, cytology, also attributive) Synonym of
spireme (“the tangled mass of strands of chromatin seen in the early
stages of mitosis, originally believed to be a single continuous strand
(or two in a diploid cell, etc.)”).
6. (figurative)
7. A tangle, a weave, a web.
8. (sports) A winning streak.
9. (US, radio, television, dated) A series created by a web (“major
broadcasting network”).
10. To weave or wind (thread, yarn, etc.) into a skein (noun sense 1).
11. (figurative) To intertwine or weave (something) with another thing.
[...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/skein>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
God would never be cruel enough to create a cyclone as terrible
as that Argonne battle. Only man would ever think of doing an awful
thing like that. It looked like "the abomination of desolation" must
look like. And all through the long night those big guns flashed and
growled just like the lightning and the thunder when it storms in the
mountains at home. And, oh my, we had to pass the wounded. And some of
them were on stretchers going back to the dressing stations, and some of
them were lying around, moaning and twitching. And the dead were all
along the road. And it was wet and cold. And it all made me think of the
Bible and the story of the Anti-Christ and Armageddon. And I'm telling
you the little log cabin in Wolf Valley in old Tennessee seemed a long
long way off.
--Alvin C. York
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York>
Theodosius III was the Byzantine emperor from around May 715 to 717.
Before rising to the throne of the Byzantine Empire, he was a tax
collector in Adramyttium. In 715, the Byzantine navy and the troops of
the Opsician Theme, one of the Byzantine provinces, revolted against
Anastasius II, acclaiming the reluctant Theodosius as emperor. He led
his troops to Chrysopolis and then Constantinople, seizing the city in
November 715. Anastasius did not surrender until several months later,
accepting exile in a monastery in return for safety. Many themes viewed
Theodosius to be a puppet of the troops of the Opsician Theme, and his
legitimacy was denied by the Anatolics and the Armeniacs under their
respective strategoi (generals) Leo the Isaurian and Artabasdos. Leo
entered Constantinople and definitively seized power in 717, allowing
Theodosius and his son to retire to a monastery. When Theodosius died is
uncertain, but it may have been in 754. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodosius_III>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1939:
The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Duchess collided with HMS Barham,
the battleship she was escorting, sinking with heavy loss of life.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Duchess_%28H64%29>
1942:
World War II: German troops began Operation Winter Storm, an
attempt to relieve encircled Axis forces during the Battle of
Stalingrad.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Winter_Storm>
1964:
Jomo Kenyatta became the first president of the Republic of
Kenya.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jomo_Kenyatta>
1979:
A magnitude-8.2 earthquake struck just off the shore of Tumaco,
Colombia, causing at least 300 deaths, mostly by the resulting tsunami.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Tumaco_earthquake>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
relationshopping:
(informal) The practice of seeking romantic or sexual partners based on
a shortlist of attributes, like a consumer shopping for a product.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/relationshopping>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We should have known better after the first war.
--Gerd von Rundstedt
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gerd_von_Rundstedt>