Sonic X-treme was a platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute
from 1994 until its cancellation in 1996. It was intended to be the
first fully 3D Sonic the Hedgehog game and the first original Sonic game
for the Sega Saturn (pictured). The game was conceived as a side-
scrolling platform game for the Sega Genesis to succeed 1994's Sonic &
Knuckles. Development shifted to the 32X and then the Saturn and
Microsoft Windows, and the game was redesigned as a 3D platform game for
the 1996 holiday season. The plan was disrupted by illness, company
politics, and an unfavorable visit by Sega executives. In place of
X-treme, Sega released a port of the Genesis game Sonic 3D Blast, but
did not release an original 3D Sonic platform game until Sonic Adventure
for the Dreamcast in 1998. The cancellation is considered an important
factor in the Saturn's commercial failure, as it left the system with no
original platform game featuring Sega's mascot.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_X-treme>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1814:
War of 1812: Fort McHenry in Baltimore's Inner Harbor was
attacked by British forces during the Battle of Baltimore, inspiring
Francis Scott Key to write "Defence of Fort McHenry", later used as the
lyrics to the United States national anthem.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Scott_Key>
1914:
World War I: The French army repulsed a German assault against
their positions on high ground near the city of Nancy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grand_Couronn%C3%A9>
1959:
The Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 (model pictured) impacted the
Moon, becoming the first spacecraft to reach another celestial body.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_2>
1971 :
The Attica Prison riot ended when New York Governor Nelson
Rockefeller orders the storming of the prison, in which 38 die by
gunfire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_2>
2008:
Five bomb blasts took place in Delhi, India, killing at least
20 people as part of a series of attacks perpetrated by the Indian
Mujahideen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Delhi_bombings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cardsharp:
(card games) A professional cheater at card games.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cardsharp>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 You shouldn't model your life about what you think that we think
is cool and what we're wearing and what we're saying and everything. Go
with yourself. Go with yourself. Â
--Fiona Apple
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fiona_Apple>
Mr. Dooley is a fictional bartender created by American journalist
Finley Peter Dunne, appearing in print between 1893 and 1915, and again
in 1924 and 1926. The bartender's humorous but pointed commentary on
American politics and international affairs first became nationally
popular during the 1898 Spanish–American War. Dunne's essays are in
the form of conversations in an Irish dialect of English between Mr.
Dooley, the owner of a fictional tavern in the Bridgeport area of
Chicago, and one of the bar's patrons. From 1898 onwards, the essays,
and the books collecting them, gained national acclaim. Dunne became a
friend of President Theodore Roosevelt, although the friendship did not
curtail his satire. Beginning around 1905, Dunne had increasing trouble
finding time and inspiration for new pieces, and, except for a brief
resurrection in the mid-1920s, his columns ended in 1915. The columns
originated lasting sayings such as "the Supreme Court follows the
election returns".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Dooley>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1848:
Switzerland became a federal state with the adoption of the
Swiss Federal Constitution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland>
1910:
Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8, one of the largest-scale
choral works in the classical concert repertoire and popularly known as
the "Symphony of a Thousand", was first performed in Munich (1916
performers pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._8_%28Mahler%29>
1952:
Three boys in Flatwoods, West Virginia, U.S., reported seeing a
ten-foot-tall (3Â m) monster in the woods while investigating a UFO.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatwoods_monster>
2015:
An explosion involving illegally stored mining detonators in
Petlawad, India, killed 104 people and injured more than 150 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petlawad_explosion>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
connive:
1. (intransitive) Often followed by with: to secretly cooperate with
another person or persons in order to commit a crime or other
wrongdoing; to collude, to conspire.
2. (intransitive, botany, rare) Of parts of a plant: to be converging or
in close contact; to be connivent.
3. (intransitive, obsolete) Often followed by at: to pretend to be
ignorant of something in order to escape blame; to ignore or overlook a
fault deliberately.
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To open and close the eyes rapidly; to wink.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/connive>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for
an idea that will die. Â
--Steve Biko
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Biko>
United Airlines Flight 93 was a passenger flight that was hijacked by
four al-Qaeda terrorists in 2001 as part of the September 11 attacks.
The hijackers stormed the westbound aircraft's cockpit 46 minutes after
its takeoff from Newark, New Jersey, and diverted it in the direction of
Washington, D.C., the U.S. capital. Several passengers and flight
attendants learned of the other 9/11 suicide attacks from phone calls,
sparking an attempt to retake the plane. During the struggle, the
hijackers deliberately crashed the plane into a field near a reclaimed
strip mine in Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania; all 44 people on board
(including the hijackers) were killed. A temporary memorial was built
near the crash site soon after the attacks. The permanent Flight 93
National Memorial was dedicated on September 10, 2011; it has a
concrete and glass visitor center overlooking the crash site.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_93>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1851:
In a fight near Christiana, Pennsylvania, a group of escaped
slaves and free Blacks led by William Parker fought off a federal posse
seeking to arrest and return the escapees to slavery.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiana_Riot>
1893:
Swami Vivekananda gave a speech introducing Hinduism on the
opening day of the first Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_the_World%27s_Religions>
1914:
First World War: The Australian Naval and Military
Expeditionary Force invaded German New Guinea, winning the Battle of
Bita Paka.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bita_Paka>
1981:
Iranian politician Ayatollah Madani and three others were
assassinated by an agent of the MEK who detonated a grenade during
Friday prayers in Tabriz.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_Asadollah_Madani>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ground zero:
1. Originally, the point on the land or water surface below which a
nuclear bomb detonates in the air; now also the point on such a surface
at or above the detonation.
2. (by extension) The location of any disaster or violent assault.
3. (figuratively) The point at which something begins.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ground_zero>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 On a day when buildings fell, heroes rose: Pentagon employees ran
into smoke-filled corridors to guide their friends to safety.
Firefighters rushed up the stairs of the World Trade Center as the
towers neared collapse. Passengers aboard Flight 93 charged the cockpit
and laid down their lives to spare countless others. One of the worst
days in America's history saw some of the bravest acts in Americans'
history. We'll always honor the heroes of 9/11. Â
--George W. Bush
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_W._Bush>
Giovanni Antonio Grassi (10 September 1775 – 12 December 1849)
was an Italian Jesuit who led many academic and religious institutions
in the United States and Europe. Born in Lombardy, he studied at the
Jesuit College in Polotsk, where he began his academic career. He was
soon ordered to China as a missionary, but after traveling across Europe
for two years attempting to secure passage, his orders were rescinded
and he instead began teaching at Stonyhurst College in England. In 1810,
Grassi was sent to the United States, where he became known as the
"second founder" of Georgetown College for greatly improving its quality
and reputation. Grassi returned to Italy in 1817 as Archbishop Leonard
Neale's representative before the Propaganda Fide in Rome. He then spent
time as a provincial superior in Turin, rector of the Turin College of
Nobles, and confessor to monarchs of the House of Savoy. In 1840, he
became the rector of the Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide
in Rome.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Antonio_Grassi>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1897:
A sheriff's posse fired on a peaceful labor demonstration
mostly comprising Polish- and Slovak-American anthracite coal miners in
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, killing 19 people and wounding many
others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lattimer_massacre>
1946:
While riding a train to Darjeeling, India, Sister Teresa
Bojaxhiu, later Mother Teresa, experienced what she later described as
the "call within the call", directing her to "leave the convent and help
the poor while living among them".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Teresa>
1961:
At the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, German driver Wolfgang von
Trips's car collided with another, causing it to become airborne and
crash into a side barrier, killing him and 15 spectators.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_von_Trips>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
manacle:
1. A shackle for the wrist, usually consisting of a pair of joined
rings; a handcuff; (by extension) a similar device put around an ankle
to restrict free movement.
2. (figuratively) A fetter, a restriction.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To confine with manacles.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/manacle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 We live in an essential and unresolvable tension between our
unity with nature and our dangerous uniqueness. Systems that attempt to
place and make sense of us by focusing exclusively either on the
uniqueness or the unity are doomed to failure. But we must not stop
asking and questing because the answers are complex and ambiguous.
Â
--Stephen Jay Gould
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould>
Huey Long (1893–1935), nicknamed "the Kingfish", was a populist member
of the Democratic Party from Louisiana who was nationally prominent in
the U.S. during the Great Depression for his vocal criticism of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal, which Long deemed
insufficiently radical. As an alternative, he proposed the Share Our
Wealth program in 1934, advocating massive federal spending, a wealth
tax, and wealth redistribution. Long served as the governor of Louisiana
from 1928 to 1932 and as a member of the U.S. Senate from 1932 until his
assassination in 1935. A controversial figure, Long is both celebrated
as a populist champion of the poor and denounced as a fascistic
demagogue. Poised for a 1936 presidential bid, Long was mortally wounded
by a lone assassin in 1935. He left behind a political dynasty that
included his wife Rose McConnell Long, his son Russell B. Long, and his
brother Earl Long, among others.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1791:
The commissioners overseeing the construction of the United
States' new capital city named it in honor of the first president:
Washington, D.C.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C.>
1939:
World War II: About 3,000 Polish Army troops began a nearly
month-long defence of the Hel Peninsula during the German invasion of
Poland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hel>
1971:
Imagine, the second solo album by John Lennon, was released.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_%28John_Lennon_album%29>
2001:
Ahmad Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance, was
assassinated in Afghanistan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Shah_Massoud>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
finger-lickin' good:
1. Of food: very delicious; delectable, scrumptious.
2. (figuratively) Extremely good; superb.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/finger-lickin%27_good>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Error is the force that welds men together; truth is communicated
to men only by deeds of truth. Only deeds of truth, by introducing light
into the conscience of each individual, can dissolve the cohesion of
error, and detach men one by one from the mass united together by the
cohesion of error. Â
--Leo Tolstoy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy>
"Can't Get You Out of My Head" is a song recorded by Australian singer
Kylie Minogue (pictured) for Fever, her eighth studio album. Parlophone
released the song as the album's lead single on 8 September 2001.
Written and produced by Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis, it is a dance-pop,
techno-pop and neo-disco song that is known for its "la la la" hook. Its
lyrics are about Minogue's obsession with her love interest. Music
critics praised the song's production and Minogue's vocals and labelled
it a highlight of Fever. The song peaked at number one on charts in 40
countries worldwide. The music video for "Can't Get You Out of My Head",
directed by Dawn Shadforth, features Minogue dancing against futuristic
backdrops; the white jumpsuit she wore in the video became a fashion
statement. Since the song's release, Minogue has included it on the set
lists of various concert tours.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can%27t_Get_You_Out_of_My_Head>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1796:
French Revolutionary Wars: The French defeated Austrian forces
in Bassano, Venetia, Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bassano>
1921:
In Atlantic City, New Jersey, Margaret Gorman was crowned the
"Golden Mermaid", the forerunner to the Miss America pageant.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_America>
1936:
Opposed to António de Oliveira Salazar's support of the
Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War, the crews of the Portuguese Navy
ships NRP Afonso de Albuquerque and NRP Dão mutinied while anchored in
the harbour of Lisbon.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Naval_Revolt>
1966:
Queen Elizabeth II opened the Severn Bridge, suggesting that it
marked the dawn of a new economic era for South Wales.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Bridge>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bottle episode:
(originally US, television) An episode of a television series designed
to be inexpensive and restricted in its use of sets, effects, cast
members, etc.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bottle_episode>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Literature endures, like the universal spirit, And its breath
becomes a part of the vitals of all men. Â
--Li Shangyin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Li_Shangyin>
The Battle of Babylon Hill was a skirmish between Royalist and
Parliamentarian forces in South West England, on 7 September 1642,
during the early stages of the First English Civil War. After a failed
Parliamentarian siege of Sherborne, about 350 Royalists were sent to
reconnoitre near Yeovil. Under the command of Sir Ralph Hopton
(pictured), the detachment established itself on Babylon Hill, on the
outskirts of the town. When they were withdrawing late in the day a
force of Parliamentarians approached. A chaotic battle ensued, mostly
due to the inexperience of the soldiers involved. The Parliamentarian
force made a cavalry attack, which the Royalists were able to repel,
though sections of both forces were routed. In the confusion, the
Royalists were eventually able to pull back under the cover of darkness.
Both sides claimed they had killed sixty or more; a modern estimate
suggests that the Royalists lost around twenty, and the Parliamentarians
five.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Babylon_Hill>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1778:
Anglo-French War: France invaded the Caribbean island of
Dominica and captured its British fort before Britain had even learned
of the Franco-American alliance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Dominica_%281778%29>
1927:
American inventor Philo Farnsworth transmitted the first images
using his all-electronic television system.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo_Farnsworth>
1965:
Indo-Pakistani War: The Pakistan Navy began a raid on the
Indian coastal town of Dwarka in its first engagement against India.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dwarka>
2011:
Yak-Service Flight 9633, carrying the players and coaching
staff of the ice hockey team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, crashed on take-off
near Yaroslavl, Russia, resulting in the deaths of 44 of the 45 people
on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lokomotiv_Yaroslavl_plane_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
spit:
1. A thin metal or wooden rod on which meat is skewered for cooking,
often over a fire.
2. A generally low, narrow, pointed, usually sandy peninsula. […]
3. (uncountable) Saliva, especially when expectorated.
4. (countable) An instance of spitting; specifically, a light fall of
rain or snow. […]
5. The depth to which the blade of a spade goes into the soil when it is
used for digging; a layer of soil of the depth of a spade's blade.
6. The amount of soil that a spade holds; a spadeful.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spit>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Learning … should be a joy and full of excitement. It is life's
greatest adventure; it is an illustrated excursion into the minds of
noble and learned men, not a conducted tour through a jail. So its
surroundings should be as gracious as possible, to complement it. Â
--Taylor Caldwell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Taylor_Caldwell>
Katie Joplin is an American sitcom created by Tom Seeley and Norm
Gunzenhauser that aired for one season on The WB Television Network from
August to September 1999. Park Overall plays the title character, a
single mother who tries to balance her job as a radio program host with
parenting her teenage son Greg (Jesse Head). Supporting characters
include her boss, played by Jay Thomas (pictured), her niece (Ana
Reeder), and her co-workers (Jim Rash and Simon Rex). The series was
optioned as a mid-season replacement for the 1998–1999 television
season, but was delayed for a year after production issues. Katie Joplin
received the lowest ratings for any original program The WB aired in its
time slot. Of the seven episodes filmed, only five were aired. Critics
recommended Katie Joplin prior to its premiere and discussed the delay
in its airing. Retrospective reviews of the series were negative.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Joplin>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1870:
Louisa Swain became the first woman in the United States to
vote in a general election.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisa_Swain>
1963:
The Kennedy administration sent Victor H. Krulak and Joseph
Mendenhall on a mission to assess the progress of the Vietnam War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krulak%E2%80%93Mendenhall_mission>
1976:
Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko landed his MiG-25 in Hakodate,
Japan, declaring his intention to defect to the West.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Belenko>
2018:
The Supreme Court of India invalidated part of Section 377 of
the Penal Code, thus legalising homosexuality in India.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_India>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bray:
1. (intransitive) Of an animal (now chiefly of animals related to the
ass or donkey, and the camel): to make its cry.
2. (intransitive, by extension) To make a harsh, discordant sound like a
donkey's bray.
3. (transitive) To make or utter (a shout, sound, etc.) discordantly,
loudly, or in a harsh and grating manner. [...]
4. (transitive, archaic) To crush or pound, especially using a pestle
and mortar.
5. (transitive, Britain, chiefly Yorkshire, by extension) To hit
(someone or something).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bray>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 There are eras of human history in which the channels of thought
have been too deeply cut and no change was possible, and nothing new
ever happened, and "best" was a matter of dogma, but that is not the
situation now. Now the stream of our common consciousness seems to be
obliterating its own banks, losing its central direction and purpose,
flooding the lowlands, disconnecting and isolating the highlands and to
no particular purpose other than the wasteful fulfillment of its own
internal momentum. Some channel deepening seems called for. Â
--Robert M. Pirsig
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig>
Abberton Reservoir is a pumped storage freshwater reservoir in England
near the Essex coast, with an area of 700 hectares (1,700 acres). Most
of its water is pumped in from the River Stour. Constructed between 1935
and 1939, it is currently owned by Essex and Suffolk Water, and lies
6 km (4 mi) south-west of Colchester. In World War II, the reservoir
was mined to deter invading seaplanes, and it was used by the RAF's
No. 617 Squadron ("The Dam Busters") to practise for the bombing of the
German dams in the Ruhr. A project to increase the reservoir's capacity
to 41,000 megalitres (9.0×109 imperial gallons) was completed in 2013,
along with a new link to transfer water from Norfolk's River Ouse to the
Stour. The reservoir is important for its breeding cormorants, wintering
and moulting waterfowl, and migrating birds. It is an internationally
important wetland, designated as a Ramsar site, SSSI and SPA and listed
in A Nature Conservation Review. A small part of the site is managed by
the Essex Wildlife Trust.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abberton_Reservoir>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1697:
Nine Years' War: A French warship captured York Factory, a
trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company in present-day Manitoba,
Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hudson%27s_Bay>
1836:
Sam Houston became the first popularly elected president of the
Republic of Texas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Houston>
1905:
Under the mediation of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt, the
Russo-Japanese War officially ended with the signing of a treaty at the
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Portsmouth>
1943:
World War II: American and Australian airborne forces landed
at Nadzab as part of the New Guinea campaign against Japan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landing_at_Nadzab>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ascesis:
1. (Rigorous) self-discipline, particularly as a religious observance;
asceticism.
2. (Christianity, chiefly Eastern Orthodoxy and Catholicism,
specifically) The praxis or "exercise" of asceticism and self-denial of
impulses or passions for the sake of piety, theosis, and connection with
God.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ascesis>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 The divine is everywhere, even in a grain of sand… Â
--Caspar David Friedrich
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Caspar_David_Friedrich>
Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (c. 646 – 705) was the fifth Umayyad
caliph, ruling from April 685 until his death. At his accession,
Umayyad authority in the Caliphate had been restricted to Syria and
Egypt as a result of the second Muslim civil war. Abd al-Malik reunited
the Caliphate after defeating the Zubayrids at the Battle of Maskin in
Iraq in 691 and the siege of Mecca in 692. The wars with Byzantium
recommenced, resulting in Umayyad advances into Anatolia and Armenia and
the recapture of Kairouan, which led to the conquests of Northwest
Africa and most of the Iberian Peninsula during the reign of his son and
successor, al-Walid I. Abd al-Malik founded the Dome of the Rock in
Jerusalem, the earliest archaeologically attested religious monument
built by a Muslim ruler. He introduced a single Islamic currency and
established Arabic as the language of the bureaucracy, replacing Greek
in Syria and Persian in Iraq. His centralized government became the
prototype of later medieval Muslim states.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Malik_ibn_Marwan>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1839:
First Opium War: British vessels opened fire on Chinese war
junks enforcing a food sales embargo on the British community on the
Kowloon Peninsula.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kowloon>
1912:
The Albanian revolt ended when the Ottoman government agreed to
meet most of the rebels' demands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_revolt_of_1912>
1957:
Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to
prevent nine African-American students from attending Little Rock
Central High School.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine>
2010:
A 7.1Â Mw earthquake struck New Zealand's South Island (damage
pictured), causing up to NZ$40Â billion in damages.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Canterbury_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bread and circuses:
1. Food and entertainment provided by the state, particularly if
intended to placate the people.
2. (by extension) Grand spectacles staged or statements made to distract
and pacify people.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bread_and_circuses>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 If you want to know what it means to be happy, look at a flower,
a bird, a child; they are perfect images of the kingdom. For they live
from moment to moment in the eternal now with no past and no future. So
they are spared the guilt and anxiety that so torment human beings and
they are full of the sheer joy of living, taking delight not so much in
persons or things as in life itself. As long as your happiness is caused
or sustained by something or someone outside of you, you are still in
the land of the dead. The day you are happy for no reason whatsoever,
the day you find yourself taking delight in everything and in nothing,
you will know that you have found the land of unending joy called the
kingdom. Â
--Anthony de Mello
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_de_Mello>