George Mason (December 11, 1725 – October 7, 1792) was a Founding
Father of the United States. A delegate to the Constitutional Convention
of 1787, he was one of three delegates who refused to sign the
Constitution. His writings have exercised a significant influence on
American political thought and events. The Virginia Declaration of
Rights, which Mason principally authored, served as a basis for the
United States Bill of Rights, of which he has been deemed a father. Many
clauses in the Constitution were influenced by Mason's input, but he
ultimately did not sign, citing the lack of a bill of rights. His
prominent fight for a bill of rights led fellow Virginian James Madison
to introduce one during the First Congress in 1789; these amendments
were ratified in 1791, a year before Mason died. Obscure after his
death, Mason later came to be recognized in the 20th and 21st centuries
for his contributions to Virginia and the early United States.
(Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mason>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1925:
Pope Pius XI promulgated the encyclical Quas primas,
establishing the Feast of Christ the King.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quas_primas>
1972:
Apollo 17 (Lunar Roving Vehicle pictured), the last Apollo
mission, landed on the Moon.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17>
1998:
With its pilot believed to have been suffering from spatial
disorientation, Thai Airways Flight 261 crashed in a swamp on approach
to Surat Thani Airport, resulting in 101 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_Airways_International_Flight_261>
2005:
Demonstrations in Cronulla, a suburb of Sydney, against recent
violence towards locals turned into a series of race riots.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Cronulla_riots>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
aslope:
1. (archaic) Slanted, sloping.
2. Slanted, sloping.
3. (figurative)
4. Indirectly, obliquely.
5. In an unfavourable or unintended direction.
6. (archaic) Diagonally across or over; aslant.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aslope>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Practised in acts of despotism and cruelty, we become callous to
the dictates of humanity and all the finer feelings of the soul. Taught
to regard a part of our own Species in the most abject and contemptible
Degree below us, we lose that Idea of the dignity of Man which the Hand
of Nature had implanted in us, for great and useful purposes. Habituated
from our Infancy to trample upon the Rights of Human Nature, every
generous, every liberal Sentiment, if not extinguished, is enfeebled in
our Minds; and in such an infernal school are to be educated our future
legislators and rulers. The laws of impartial Providence may even by
such means as these avenge upon our posterity the injury done to a set
of wretches whom our injustice hath debased to a level with the brute
creation.
--George Mason
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Mason>
Edmund Ætheling (born 1016 or 1017, died before 1057) was a son of
Edmund Ironside and his wife Ealdgyth. Edmund Ironside briefly ruled as
king of England following the death of his father Æthelred the Unready
in April 1016. Edmund Ironside died in late 1016 after a hard-fought
war with Danish invader Cnut who became king of all England shortly
after. The following year, Cnut sent Edmund Ironside's two infant sons,
Edmund Ætheling and Edward the Exile, to Continental Europe, probably
to the King of Sweden, to be murdered. Instead, the princes were spared
and sent to Hungary, possibly after a sojourn at the court of
Yaroslav I, prince of Kiev, in Russia. As Ironside's marriage lasted no
more than 15 months, Edmund and Edward were either twins or one was born
after their father's death. Edmund may have married a daughter of the
Hungarian king, and he died in Hungary on 10 January in an unknown year
before 1057. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_%C3%86theling>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1890:
The New York World Building, the then-tallest building in the
United States at a height of 110 meters, is completed in New York City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_World_Building>
1907:
During the Brown Dog affair, protesters marched through London
and clashed with police officers in Trafalgar Square over the existence
of a memorial for animals that had been vivisected.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Dog_affair>
1942:
Edward Raczyński of the Polish government-in-exile issued a
note that was the first official report on the Holocaust.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raczy%C5%84ski%27s_Note>
1989:
At the first open pro-democracy demonstration in Mongolia,
journalist Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announced the formation of the
Mongolian Democratic Union, which would be instrumental in ending
communist rule four months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsakhiagiin_Elbegdorj>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Nuyorican:
1. (originally and chiefly US, informal) Of or relating to New Yorkers
of Puerto Rican descent.
2. (originally and chiefly US, informal) A New Yorker of Puerto Rican
descent.
3. (originally and chiefly US, informal) The variety of Spanish spoken
by New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nuyorican>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
IMMORTAL is an ample word When what we need is by, But when it
leaves us for a time, ’T is a necessity. Of heaven above the firmest
proof We fundamental know, Except for its marauding hand, It had been
heaven below.
--Emily Dickinson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson>
Macrobdella decora, the North American medicinal leech, is a species of
freshwater leech found in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. A
medium-sized annelid growing up to 8.5 cm (3.3 in) long, it has a
spotted greenish-brown back and a reddish underbelly. M. decora is
commonly encountered by swimmers and lives in ponds, ditches, and
wetlands. The leeches are both blood-sucking parasites and aggressive
predators. They have three saw-like "jaws" which they use to penetrate
their host's skin, and they can remain attached for up to two hours.
Their hosts include fish, turtles, wading birds, and mammals, including
humans. The leeches are also voracious predators who eat other
invertebrates, amphibian eggs and larvae, and sometimes even members of
their own species. M. decora was historically used for leeching by
European colonists in North America, who found the native leeches
"equally efficacious" as those from Europe. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrobdella_decora>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1940:
Second World War: British and Commonwealth forces began
Operation Compass, the first major Allied military operation of the
Western Desert campaign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Compass>
1965:
A large, brilliant fireball was seen by thousands in midwestern
North America before landing in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kecksburg_UFO_incident>
1979:
A World Health Organization commission of scientists certified
the global eradication of smallpox (virus pictured), making it the only
human infectious disease to date to have been completely eradicated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox>
1990:
In Serbia's first multi-party election, Slobodan Milošević
won the presidential election and the Socialist Party of Serbia won the
majority of seats in the National Assembly.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Serbian_general_election>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
retrofuturistic:
Of or relating to how the future was inaccurately imagined in the past;
resembling an outdated vision of the future.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/retrofuturistic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Civil Society is a cluster of institutions and associations
strong enough to prevent tyranny, but which are, none the less, entered
and left freely, rather than imposed by birth or sustained by awesome
ritual.
--Ernest Gellner
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Gellner>
The Coventry ring road (A4053) is a 2.25-mile (3.62 km) ring road in
Coventry, England, forming a dual-carriageway loop around the city
centre. The road encloses Coventry Cathedral, the shopping areas, and
much of Coventry University. Except junction 1, all junctions are
entirely grade-separated and closely spaced, with weaving sections
between them. The road connects with three other A roads: the A4114,
the A4600 and the A429. From the 1930s, Coventry City Council began
replacing its medieval streets with modern roads, and Donald Gibson, the
city architect, began work in 1939 on a plan that was expanded after the
Coventry Blitz during the Second World War. The ring road was
constructed in six stages from 1959, initially with at-grade junctions,
cycle tracks and footpaths, but in the early 1960s the council amended
the design to include grade separation and the weaving sections. The
road was completed in 1974, with an overall cost of £14.5 million
(equivalent to £191 million in 2023). (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry_ring_road>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1880:
At an assembly of 10,000 Boers, Paul Kruger announced the
fulfilment of the decision to restore the government and volksraad of
the South African Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kruger>
1987:
A man shot and killed eight people at the Australia Post
building in Melbourne, before jumping to his death.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Street_massacre>
2010:
The Japanese experimental spacecraft IKAROS flew by Venus at a
distance of 80,800 km (50,200 mi), completing its planned mission to
demonstrate solar-sail technology.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKAROS>
2024:
The Syrian civil war ended when Bashar al-Assad's party, the
Syrian Ba'ath Party, surrendered to the Syrian opposition.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_civil_war>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sterling:
1. (not comparable)
2. Of or relating to the currency of the United Kingdom, or former types
of English or British coinage.
3. Of silver: being of standard quality.
4. Of a thing: of or relating to, or made from, sterling silver.
5. (archaic) Of English (or (obsolete) Scottish) currency: genuine, of
legal tender.
6. (comparable, figurative)
7. Of acknowledged influence; authoritative; also, of high or excellent
quality; of proven worth.
8. (obsolete) Having currency (“general acceptance, recognition, or
use”). [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sterling>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Regard the child, regard the animal,Welcome strangers, but study
daily things,Knowing that heaven and hell surround us,But this, this
which we say before we're sorry,This which we live behind our unseen
faces,Is neither dream, nor childhood, neitherMyth, nor landscape,
final, nor finished,For we are incomplete and know no future,And we are
howling or dancing out our soulsIn beating syllables before the
curtain:We are Shakespearean, we are strangers.
--Delmore Schwartz
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Delmore_Schwartz>
The 2015 Trophée Éric Bompard was a figure skating competition
sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), and the fourth
event of the 2015–16 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. Held at the
Meriadeck Ice Rink in Bordeaux, France, on 13 November 2015, medals
were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice
dance. The competition was cancelled after the first day, following the
November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. The ISU later announced that the
short program results would be considered the final results for the
competition and any prize money and qualifying points for the Grand Prix
Final were distributed. Shoma Uno of Japan won the men's event, Gracie
Gold of the United States won the women's event, Tatiana Volosozhar and
Maxim Trankov (both pictured) of Russia won the pairs event, and Madison
Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States won the ice dance
event. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Troph%C3%A9e_%C3%89ric_Bompard>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
American Civil War: The Battle of Prairie Grove ended a
Confederate attempt to regain control of northwestern Arkansas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Prairie_Grove>
1972:
Construction workers found the remains of Martin Bormann near
Lehrter Station in Berlin, ending a decades-long search after his
conviction in absentia at the Nuremberg trials.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Bormann>
1995:
The Galileo spacecraft arrived at Jupiter, a little more than
six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission
STS-34.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_%28spacecraft%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
slate:
1. To scold (someone) harshly; to chastise, to excoriate, to lambaste.
2. (chiefly UK) To criticize or critique (an author or a work) harshly;
to castigate.
3. (military slang) To treat (an enemy) harshly.
4. (originally and chiefly Ireland, slang) To beat or thrash (someone)
harshly.
5. (UK, obsolete) To knock the hat of (someone) forward over their eyes
as a joke.
6. (dated) Synonym of slating (“a harsh criticism”). [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is only in folk tales, children's stories, and the journals of
intellectual opinion that power is used wisely and well to destroy evil.
The real world teaches very different lessons, and it takes willful and
dedicated ignorance to fail to perceive them. These are, unfortunately,
leading themes of history.
--Noam Chomsky
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky>
Jefferson Davis (June 3, 1808 – December 6, 1889) was the president
of the Confederate States of America (CSA) from 1861 to 1865. He
previously represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and House
of Representatives as a Democrat, and was the U.S. secretary of war from
1853 to 1857. A graduate of West Point, Davis served in the U.S. Army,
fighting in the Mexican–American War. He was a cotton planter and
owned as many as 113 slaves. During the Civil War, Davis served as
commander in chief. When the CSA was defeated in 1865, he was captured,
accused of involvement in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and of
treason, and imprisoned at Fort Monroe. He was released without trial
after two years. Immediately after the war, Davis was often blamed for
the CSA's defeat but, after his release from prison, the Lost Cause
movement deemed him a hero, and he was celebrated in the South. In the
21st century, however, he has been viewed more harshly, and many
memorials to him have been removed. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Davis>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
Slavery in the United States was officially abolished with the
ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Con…>
1942:
The Holocaust: Members of the German Ordnungspolizei massacred
31 people in Stary Ciepielów and Rekówka within occupied Poland for
helping Jews.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stary_Ciepiel%C3%B3w_and_Rek%C3%B3wka_massacre>
1975:
Four members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army took two
people hostage in a house on Balcombe Street in London, surrendering six
days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balcombe_Street_siege>
1990:
An Italian Air Force military jet, abandoned by its pilot after
an on-board fire, crashed into a high school near Bologna, killing 12
students and injuring 88 other people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Italian_Air_Force_MB-326_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cherry on top:
(idiomatic) Synonym of icing on the cake (“a thing which intensifies the
appreciation of something already good, or (ironic) the regretting of
something already bad”).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cherry_on_top>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I am obsessed with architecture. It is true, I am restless,
trying to find myself as an architect, and how best to contribute in
this world filled with contradiction, disparity, and inequality, even
passion and opportunity.
--Frank Gehry
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frank_Gehry>
The flag of Hong Kong depicts a white stylised five-petal flower of the
Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia × blakeana) in the centre of a field of
Chinese red, the same red as on the flag of China. The Hong Kong Basic
Law prescribes the design, and it is only to be made according to
regulation and in approved sizes. Regulations regarding its use are
stated in the Regional Flag and Regional Emblem Ordinance; its
desecration is unlawful and has been punished. The flag was unveiled on
4 April 1990 and approved on 10 August 1996. It was first officially
hoisted on 1 July 1997, during the handover ceremony marking the
transfer of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom back to China, and
replaced a colonial flag adopted in 1959. The 1959 flag, and a variant
known as the Black Bauhinia, have been displayed by protesters in Hong
Kong, particularly during the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. Government
supporters often displayed the Chinese and Hong Kong flags together.
(Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Hong_Kong>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1905:
The Great Seimas of Vilnius met to discuss national concerns
within Lithuania: they decided to demand wide political autonomy within
the Russian Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Seimas_of_Vilnius>
1915:
World War I: Senior British and French figures, including prime
ministers H. H. Asquith and Aristide Briand, met at Calais to discuss
the future of the Salonika Front.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calais_Conference_%28December_1915%29>
1992:
U.S. president George H. W. Bush ordered American troops into
Somalia to help provide humanitarian aid and restore order during the
ongoing Somali Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Task_Force>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dogs bark, cats meow:
(humorous, informal) Used to introduce something seen as inevitable or
totally commonplace.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dogs_bark%2C_cats_meow>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Kings are in the moral order what monsters are in the physical.
Courts are the workshops of crimes, the lair of tyrants. The history of
kings is the martyrology of nations.
--Henri Grégoire
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henri_Gr%C3%A9goire>
Ovalipes catharus, commonly known as the paddle crab, swimming crab, or
pāpaka in Māori, is a species of crab found in shallow, sandy-bottomed
waters around the coasts of New Zealand, the Chatham Islands, and
uncommonly in southern Australia. This species is an opportunistic,
aggressive, and versatile feeder active mostly at night, preying
predominantly on molluscs and crustaceans. It is also highly prone to
cannibalism, which accounts for over a quarter of its diet in some
locations. The crab's paddle-shaped rear legs and streamlined carapace
allow it to capture prey by swimming rapidly and to escape predation by
burrowing in the sand. Its mating season is in winter and spring, after
which the female likely moves into deeper waters to incubate and
disperse her larvae. Commercial fisheries have harvested paddle crabs
since the 1970s, and O. catharus is present in Māori culture as both
an artistic motif and as a traditional source of food.
(Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovalipes_catharus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1910:
Freda Du Faur became the first woman to climb Aoraki / Mount
Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freda_Du_Faur>
1959:
The current flag and coat of arms of Singapore were adopted,
six months after the island became self-governing within the British
Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Singapore>
1979:
Eleven people were crushed in a human stampede at a concert by
British rock band The Who in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Who_concert_disaster>
2009:
A suicide bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia, killed 25 people,
including three ministers of the Transitional Federal Government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Hotel_Shamo_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
service dog:
1. A dog which serves people by helping them with activities of daily
living, with search and rescue, or with other (non-draft and non-
farming) tasks.
2. (law enforcement, military) A dog which assists the work of military
or law enforcement officers.
3. (chiefly Canada, US) A dog which assists a person who has a physical
disability or a mental disability such as post-traumatic stress
disorder.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/service_dog>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I can't tell if a straw ever saved a drowning man, but I know
that a mere glance is enough to make despair pause. For in truth we who
are creatures of impulse are not creatures of despair.
--Joseph Conrad
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Conrad>
Julio and Marisol was a bilingual public-service advertising campaign
that ran from 1989 to 2001 in the New York City Subway promoting condom
use to prevent AIDS. The well-known catchphrase was a line from the
first installment, in which Marisol sobs, "I love you, but not enough to
die for you". The story follows a young Hispanic couple as they explore
human sexuality and the effects of the AIDS epidemic on their
relationship. Designed to appeal to a Hispanic audience particularly at
risk due to cultural attitudes discouraging condom use, it has been
described as "one part steamy soap opera, one part language instruction,
and two parts AIDS education service". The ads were praised by public
health officials for presenting situations which people could relate to,
and by AIDS activists for breaking down the social stigma associated
with the disease. They drew criticism, however, from family values
advocates who objected to the promotion of condoms and the tacit
acceptance of homosexuality. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julio_and_Marisol>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1822:
Pedro I was crowned the first emperor of Brazil, seven weeks
after his reign began on his 24th birthday.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_I_of_Brazil>
1955:
Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a
public bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, United States,
sparking the Montgomery bus boycott.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks>
1974:
Two Boeing 727s, TWA Flight 514 and Northwest Orient Airlines
Flight 6231, crashed in the eastern United States in unrelated
circumstances, killing 95 people on board both aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Orient_Airlines_Flight_6231>
2019:
Vivianne Miedema scored six goals and had four assists for
Arsenal W.F.C. in their 11–1 victory over Bristol City W.F.C., which
broke the record for the most goals scored in a FA Women's Super League
match.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenal_Women_11%E2%80%931_Bristol_City_Women>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
doghole:
A place regarded as fit only for dogs: a horrid, mean habitation. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/doghole>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We do on stage things that are supposed to happen off. Which is a
kind of integrity, if you look on every exit as being an entrance
somewhere else.
--Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rosencrantz_%26_Guildenstern_Are_Dead_%28film…>