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>
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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>
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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>