The 1883 FA Cup final was played between Blackburn Olympic F.C. and Old
Etonians F.C. on 31 March 1883 at Kennington Oval in London. It was the
12th final of the FA Cup, the world's oldest football competition. Old
Etonians had defeated Blackburn Rovers, in the 1882 final. Blackburn
Olympic had not previously progressed beyond the first round of the
competition. Old Etonians took the lead in the first half with a goal
from Harry Goodhart, but Alfred Matthews scored an equaliser for
Blackburn and, with the scores level, the game went into extra time.
Blackburn's James Costley scored and Blackburn won the match 2–1. It
was the first time that a working-class team had won the Cup; it had
previously been won exclusively by wealthy amateurs. The victory
intensified a debate over professionalism in football; following threats
to break away by teams which wished to pay players, professionalism in
football was legalised in 1885 and the dominance of amateurs quickly
ended.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_FA_Cup_final>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1902:
In a ceremony at Westminster Abbey, Edward VII and Alexandra
were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the British
Dominions, and Emperor and Empress of India.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_of_Denmark>
1965:
The state of Singapore (flag pictured) was expelled from the
Malaysian federation due to a heated ideological conflict between their
ruling parties; the day is now celebrated as Singapore's National Day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Day_%28Singapore%29>
2001:
Second Intifada: A suicide bomber attacked a pizza restaurant
in Jerusalem, killing 15 people and wounding 130 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sbarro_restaurant_suicide_bombing>
2006:
British police arrested 24 people for conspiring to detonate
liquid explosives carried on board airliners travelling from the UK to
the US and Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_transatlantic_aircraft_plot>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Singaporean:
1. Of, pertaining to, or from Singapore, or its language or people.
2. A person from Singapore, or descended from such a person.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Singaporean>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Before games are played in common, no rules in the proper sense
can come into existence. Regularities and ritualized schemas are already
there, but these rites, being the work of the individual, cannot call
forth that submission to something superior to the self which
characterizes the appearance of any rule.
--Jean Piaget
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget>
The Diamond Smugglers is a non-fiction book by Ian Fleming published in
November 1957. The book is based on two weeks of interviews Fleming
undertook with John Collard, a member of the International Diamond
Security Organisation (IDSO) and a former member of MI5; the IDSO was
headed by Sir Percy Sillitoe (pictured), the ex-head of MI5 who worked
for the diamond company De Beers. The IDSO was formed by Sillitoe to
combat the smuggling of diamonds from Africa; it was estimated that
£10 million worth of gems were being smuggled every year out of South
Africa alone. The book expands upon a series of articles that Fleming
wrote for The Sunday Times in 1957. The Diamond Smugglers is one of two
non-fiction books written by Fleming. It received mixed reviews,
although critics thought the subject was interesting and that the facts
were as interesting as works of fiction. There was interest in turning
the book into a film, but the plans did not come to fruition.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Smugglers>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1695:
The foundation for what is now known as the Wren Building, the
oldest surviving college building in the United States, was laid in a
ceremony at Middle Plantation, Virginia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wren_Building>
1918:
The Battle of Amiens began in northern France, marking the
start of the Allies' Hundred Days Offensive through the German front
lines that ultimately led to the end of World War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Amiens_%281918%29>
1991:
The Warsaw radio mast, then the tallest structure ever built,
at 646.38 metres (2,120.7 ft), collapsed due to an error in exchanging
the guys on the highest telecommunications equipment of the mast.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_radio_mast>
2010:
A massive mudslide in the Chinese province of Gansu killed at
least 1,471 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Gansu_mudslide>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
cat:
1. Terms relating to animals.
2. (countable) An animal of the family Felidae.
3.
4. A carnivorous, four-legged, generally furry domesticated species
(Felis catus) of feline animal, commonly kept as a house pet.
5. (uncountable) The flesh of this animal eaten as food.
6. Any similar, chiefly non-domesticated, animal of the family Felidae,
which includes bobcats, caracals, cheetahs, cougars, leopards, lions,
lynxes, tigers, and other such species.
7. (countable, by extension) Chiefly with a descriptive word: an animal
not of the family Felidae which (somewhat) resembles a domestic feline
(sense 1.1.1). [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cat>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Every breath you draw, every accelerated beat of your heart in
the emotional periods of your oratory depend upon highly elaborated
physical and chemical reactions and mechanisms which nature has been
building up through a million centuries. If one of these mechanisms,
which you owe entirely to your animal ancestry, were to be stopped for a
single instant, you would fall lifeless on the stage. Not only this, but
some of your highest ideals of human fellowship and comradeship were not
created in a moment, but represent the work of ages.
--Henry Fairfield Osborn
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Fairfield_Osborn>
Constans II (died 411) was the son of the Western Roman emperor
Constantine III. When his father rebelled against the ruling emperor
Honorius and the army in Britain acclaimed him as emperor in early 407,
Constans was a monk. He was summoned to Gaul, appointed to the position
of caesar (heir) and swiftly married so that a dynasty could be founded.
Honorius acknowledged Constantine as co-emperor in early 409 and
Constantine immediately raised Constans to the position of emperor,
theoretically equal in rank to Honorius as well as to Constantine. Later
in 409 Constans was sent to Hispania (Spain) to quash a revolt, but
suffered a defeat and withdrew to Arelate (modern Arles). In 410,
Constans was again sent to Hispania with an army. The rebels had
strengthened their forces with barbarians and won a battle against
Constans; he withdrew north and was defeated again and killed at Vienne
early in 411. The rebels then besieged Constantine in Arelate and killed
him.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constans_II_%28son_of_Constantine_III%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1945:
World War II: The U.S. Army Air Force bomber Enola Gay
dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan (mushroom cloud
pictured), killing about 70,000 people instantly.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boy>
1965:
U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act
into law, outlawing literacy tests and other discriminatory voting
practices that had been responsible for the widespread disfranchisement
of African Americans.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965>
1991:
British computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee posted a public
invitation to collaborate on a system of interlinked, hypertext
documents accessible via the Internet, known as the World Wide Web.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee>
2008:
Mauritanian president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was ousted
from power by a group of high-ranking generals that he had dismissed
from office several hours earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Mauritanian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gossip mirror:
(architecture) A mirror or pair of mirrors mounted outside a window,
allowing the viewer to see along a street while remaining indoors.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gossip_mirror>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The altar of liberty totters when it is cemented only with blood,
when it is supported only with carcases. The liberty which I look for is
that which would increase the happiness of mankind. In the service of
this liberty I have devoted my life and whatever portion of talents I
may have or acquire.
--Daniel O'Connell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_O%27Connell>
The collapse of the Apollo Theatre took place on the evening of
March 31, 2023, when a tornado struck Belvidere, Illinois, in the
United States. A show there, headlined by the death metal band Morbid
Angel, had begun despite advance knowledge of imminent severe weather.
Winds of 90 to 100 miles per hour (140 to 160 km/h) caused the failure
of the lower roof structure and large amounts of debris fell into the
sold-out venue burying many people. Concertgoers removed debris prior to
the arrival of the Belvidere Fire Department. One concertgoer was
pronounced dead at the scene and 27 were taken to the hospital, of 48
who suffered non-fatal injuries. The street-facing facade and the upper
roof structure were found on the street after the tornado. Following the
collapse, the lack of safety protocols despite warning became the
subject of multiple lawsuits. The Apollo Theatre was condemned the next
day, but reopened that September.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belvidere_Apollo_Theatre_collapse>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1600:
Scottish nobleman John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie, was killed
during what was most likely a failed attempt to kidnap King James VI.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ruthven,_3rd_Earl_of_Gowrie>
1772:
Russia, Prussia and Habsburg Austria began the First Partition
of Poland, with the primary motive to restore the regional balance of
power in Eastern Europe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Partition_of_Poland>
1973:
Due to an athletics scandal, the National Collegiate Athletic
Association applied the death penalty to the basketball program at the
University of Southwestern Louisiana.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Southwestern_Louisiana_basketba…>
2015:
United States Environmental Protection Agency personnel
accidentally caused a spillage (aftermath pictured) of 3 million
gallons (11 million litres) of mine waste water and tailings trapped
inside the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Gold_King_Mine_waste_water_spill>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
stack talk:
(US, rail transport, slang) The sound made by the exhaust of a steam
locomotive.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stack_talk>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I remember on the trip home on Apollo 11 it suddenly struck me
that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb
and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't
feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
--Neil Armstrong
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong>
2020 Missouri Amendment 2, also called the Medicaid Expansion
Initiative, was a ballot measure to amend the Constitution of Missouri
to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The initiative was on
the August 4, 2020, primary ballot and passed with 53.27% of the vote.
Following Medicaid expansion initiatives in other states, Republican
lawmakers in Nebraska and Utah added work requirements to their states'
expansions; supporters aimed to prevent this by proposing state
constitutional amendments for future Medicaid expansion initiatives. The
measure was supported most in urban areas and opposed in rural areas.
After a delay due to a lack of funding from the Missouri General
Assembly and resulting litigation, the initiative was slowly implemented
in October 2021. Republican lawmakers attempted to roll back the
program and add a work requirement through a state constitutional
amendment, which failed after the United States Supreme Court prevented
its implementation.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Missouri_Amendment_2>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
In Brooklyn, a mob composed largely of Irish Americans attacked
a group of African Americans in a riot.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1862_Brooklyn_riot>
1991:
An explosion on the Greek cruise ship MTS Oceanos ruptured its
hull, causing it to sink off the east coast of South Africa, with all
571 people on board rescued.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTS_Oceanos>
2006:
Sri Lankan civil war: Seventeen employees of the French
nongovernmental organization ACF International were massacred in Mutur.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Trincomalee_massacre_of_NGO_workers>
2020:
A large explosion of ammonium nitrate stored at the Port of
Beirut in Lebanon killed 218 people and caused US$15 billion in damage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Beirut_explosion>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
discordant:
1. Not in accord or harmony; conflicting, incompatible.
2. Of people: disagreeing with each other; dissenting, quarrelsome.
3. (also figurative) Of sounds: harsh, jarring; specifically (music), of
musical notes or tunes: not in harmony; dissonant, inharmonious.
4. (geology, physical geography, originally US) Of a rock formation or
other land feature, or its alignment: cutting across or transverse to
neighbouring features.
5. Of a coastline: having bands of different types of rock running
transversely to the coast, leading to the formation of alternating bays
and headlands.
6. (chiefly genetics) Of two similar subjects, especially twins:
differing in some characteristic.
7. (healthcare) Ellipsis of serodiscordant (“of a couple: with one
partner HIV positive and the other HIV negative”).
8. (mathematics, statistics) Of figures, etc.: having opposite signs
(for example, positive and negative).
9. (chiefly in the plural) A thing which is not in accord or harmony
with one or more other things.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/discordant>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents,
and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's
children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end,
that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the
horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of
freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
--Barack Obama
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>
SMS Hindenburg was a battlecruiser of the Imperial German Navy, the
third ship of the Derfflinger class. She was named in honor of Field
Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, the victor of the Battle of Tannenberg and
the Battle of the Masurian Lakes, as well as Supreme Commander of the
German armies from 1916. The ship was the last capital ship of any type
built for the German navy during World War I. Hindenburg took part in
short fleet operations as the flagship of I Scouting Group in
1917–18, but saw no major action. The proposed final sortie of the
fleet in the last weeks of the war ended when the crews of the capital
ships mutinied. Hindenburg was interned with other German battlecruisers
at Scapa Flow in November 1918. Rear Admiral Ludwig von Reuter ordered
that the ships be scuttled on 21 June 1919; Hindenburg was the last of
the ships to sink. She was raised in 1930 and broken up for scrap the
following two years. (This article is part of a featured topic:
Battlecruisers of Germany.) (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Hindenburg>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1814:
Britain celebrated a Grand Jubilee to mark 100 years since the
accession of George I and 16 years since the start of the Battle of the
Nile.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Jubilee_of_1814>
1971:
The Concert for Bangladesh, a pair of benefit concerts
organised by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar for refugees of the
Bangladesh genocide, took place at Madison Square Garden in New York.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Concert_for_Bangladesh>
2004:
Nearly 400 people died in a supermarket fire in Asunción,
Paraguay, when exits were locked to prevent people from stealing
merchandise.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ycu%C3%A1_Bola%C3%B1os_supermarket_fire>
2007:
Bridge 9340, carrying Interstate 35W across the Mississippi
River in Minneapolis, United States, suffered a catastrophic failure and
collapsed (aftermath pictured), killing 13 people and injuring 145
others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Mississippi_River_bridge>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
leviathan:
1. (biblical, mythology) A vast sea monster of tremendous strength,
either imaginary or real, described as the most dangerous and powerful
creature in the ocean.
2. (figurative)
3. A thing which is monstrously great in size, strength, etc.
(especially a ship); also, a person with great power or wealth.
4. (political science) Sometimes in the form Leviathan: based on the
writings of Thomas Hobbes, the political state, especially a domineering
and totalitarian one.
5. (obsolete) Synonym of Satan (“the supreme evil spirit in the
Abrahamic religions, who tempts humanity into sin; the Devil”).
6. Very large; enormous, gargantuan.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/leviathan>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
A man of true science... uses but few hard words, and those only
when none other will answer his purpose; whereas the smatterer in
science... thinks, that by mouthing hard words, he proves that he
understands hard things.
--Herman Melville
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herman_Melville>