Oryzomys dimidiatus, also known as the Nicaraguan oryzomys, Thomas's
rice rat, or the Nicaraguan rice rat, is a rodent in the genus Oryzomys
of the family Cricetidae. It is known from only three specimens, all
collected in southeastern Nicaragua (range pictured) since 1904. Placed
in Nectomys upon its discovery, it was later classified in its own
subgenus of Oryzomys and finally recognized as closely related to other
species now placed in Oryzomys, including the marsh rice rat and
Oryzomys couesi, which occurs in the same region. With a head and body
length of 118 to 128 mm (4.6 to 5.0 in), O. dimidiatus is a medium-
sized rice rat. The upperparts are gray-brown and the underparts are
grayish, not buffy as in O. couesi. The tail is only slightly darker
above than below. All three specimens were caught near water and the
species may be semiaquatic, spending some time in the water. There is
currently not enough data to make a proper assessment of its
conservation status. (This article is part of a featured topic:
Oryzomys.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Oryzomys>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1139:
Prince Afonso Henriques led Portuguese troops to victory over
the Almoravid Moors at the Battle of Ourique, which soon resulted in
Portuguese independence from the Kingdom of León.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ourique>
1861:
The United States Congress passed the Crittenden–Johnson
Resolution, asserting that the aim of the American Civil War was to
"preserve the Union"; the measure was repealed five months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crittenden%E2%80%93Johnson_Resolution>
1978:
Two Puerto Rican independence activists were killed in a police
ambush at Cerro Maravilla in Ponce.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Maravilla_murders>
2007:
Pratibha Patil was sworn in as the first female president of
India.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratibha_Patil>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
cutting:
1. (countable, uncountable) The action of the verb to cut.
2. (countable) A section removed from a larger whole.
3. (countable) A newspaper clipping.
4. (countable, horticulture) A leaf, stem, branch, or root removed from
a plant and cultivated to grow a new plant.
5. (countable) An abridged selection of written work, often intended for
performance.
6. (countable, Britain) An open passage at a level lower than the
surrounding terrain, dug for a canal, railway, or road to go through.
7. (uncountable, cinematography, sound engineering) The editing of film
or other recordings.
8. (uncountable, machining) The process of bringing metals to a desired
shape by chipping away the unwanted material.
9. (uncountable, psychology) The act of cutting one's own skin as a
symptom of a personality disorder; self-harm.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cutting>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Both the revolutionary and the creative individual are perpetual
juveniles. The revolutionary does not grow up because he cannot grow,
while the creative individual cannot grow up because he keeps growing.
Â
--Eric Hoffer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eric_Hoffer>
Arthur Blackburn (1892–1960) was an Australian soldier, lawyer,
politician, and recipient of the Victoria Cross. Enlisting in the
Australian Imperial Force in 1914, he fought with his unit for most of
the Gallipoli campaign of 1915, during which he was commissioned. On
23 July 1916, during the Battle of Pozières in France, he led four
sorties to drive Germans from a strong point using hand grenades and
captured 370 yards (340Â m) of trench. He fought in the Battle of
Mouquet Farm in August, then was evacuated to Australia due to illness.
He served as a member of the South Australian parliament in 1918–1921.
After the outbreak of World War II, Blackburn led the 2/3rd Machine Gun
Battalion during the Syria–Lebanon campaign in 1941, personally
accepting the surrender of Damascus. In early 1942, his battalion was
deployed to Java in the Dutch East Indies. Captured by the Japanese,
Blackburn spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war. After the war,
he served on the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Blackburn>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1860:
The trial of the Eastbourne manslaughter, which later became an
important legal precedent in the United Kingdom for discussions of
corporal punishment in schools, began in Lewes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastbourne_manslaughter>
1921:
The first National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party
opened in a house in Shanghai.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Communist_Party>
1984:
Vanessa Williams, the first African-American Miss America, was
forced to resign after the magazine Penthouse published nude photos of
her without consent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanessa_Williams_and_Miss_America>
2001:
Megawati Sukarnoputri became the first female president of
Indonesia after her predecessor Abdurrahman Wahid was removed from
office.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megawati_Sukarnoputri>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
churchical:
1. (Christianity, informal) Pertaining to or characteristic of church;
ecclesiastical.
2. (chiefly Jamaican, music) Belonging to a style of Reggae music that
reflects a spiritual sensibility.
3. (chiefly Jamaican, Rastafari) Pertaining to the strain of Rastafarian
culture that emphasizes a traditional theocracy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/churchical>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
 I am a writer, and there comes a time when that which I write has
to belong to me, has to be written alone and in silence, with no one
looking over my shoulder, no one telling me a better way to write it. It
doesn't have to be great writing, it doesn't even have to be terribly
good. It just has to be mine. Â
--Raymond Chandler
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Raymond_Chandler>
Dementia with Lewy bodies is a common dementia characterized by changes
in sleep, behavior, cognition, movement, and automatic bodily functions.
Symptoms worsen over time until cognitive decline interferes with normal
daily functioning. The core features are REM sleep behavior disorder (in
which people act out their dreams), visual hallucinations, marked
fluctuations in attention or alertness, and parkinsonism. The exact
cause is unknown, but involves deposits of abnormal clumps of protein in
the brain, known as Lewy bodies. Gastrointestinal and heart function can
be affected. Definitive diagnosis usually requires an autopsy, and a
probable diagnosis—based on symptoms and tests—is often missed.
Management of the many symptoms is challenging and involves multiple
specialties. There is no cure or medication to stop the disease
progression. After the suicide of Robin Williams (pictured) in 2014, his
autopsy found that diffuse Lewy bodies explained his symptoms.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_with_Lewy_bodies>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1378:
Unrepresented labourers in Florence revolted and violently took
over the city's government (depicted) to grant them political office.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciompi_Revolt>
1877:
Much of central Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was burned and looted
during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_railroad_strike_of_1877>
1977:
Libyan forces carried out a raid at Sallum, sparking a four-day
war with Egypt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian%E2%80%93Libyan_War>
2013:
Nour Ahmad Nikbakht, an Iranian diplomat in Yemen, was
kidnapped by al-Qaeda militants and held hostage for the next two years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Iranian_diplomat_kidnapping>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
aventurine:
1. A kind of brownish glass containing gold-coloured spangles.
2. (mineralogy, by extension) A variety of translucent quartz, spangled
throughout with scales of yellow mica.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aventurine>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
 When it comes to space, I see it as my job to build
infrastructure the hard way — I'm using my resources to put in place
heavy-lifting infrastructure so the next generation of people can have a
dynamic, entrepreneurial explosion into space. … I want thousands of
entrepreneurs doing amazing things in space, and to do that we need to
dramatically lower the cost of access to space. Â
--Jeff Bezos
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos>
The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary commemorative coins were issued by the
United States Mint in 2019 to mark the 50th anniversary of the first
crewed landing on the Moon on July 20, 1969, by Apollo 11 astronauts
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. There is a gold half eagle (five-dollar
coin), two sizes of silver dollars, and a copper-nickel clad half
dollar, all with the same design and curved, with the obverse concave
and the reverse convex. The obverse shows a bootprint on the lunar
surface, and the reverse (pictured), based on a well-known photo by
Armstrong, depicts the visor of Aldrin's space suit, reflecting
Armstrong, the U.S. flag and the Lunar Module Eagle. The depiction of
Aldrin made him the seventh individual depicted on a U.S. coin to be
alive at the time it was struck. The program was the most successful
U.S. commemorative coin issue since the 2014 National Baseball Hall of
Fame coins, with more than 600,000 Apollo 11 coins sold. The larger
silver dollar won the Coin of the Year Award for 2019-dated issues.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11_50th_Anniversary_commemorative_coins>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1982:
Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated two
bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in London, killing eleven British
Army personnel and seven horses.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Park_and_Regent%27s_Park_bombings>
1997:
After being fully restored, USSÂ Constitution, one of the
original six frigates of the United States Navy, sailed for the first
time in 116 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constitution>
2001:
Twenty-three-year-old Italian anti-globalist Carlo Giuliani was
shot dead by a police officer while protesting outside the 27th G8
summit held in Genoa, Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Carlo_Giuliani>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
lunar:
1. Of, pertaining to, or resembling the Moon (that is, Luna, the Earth's
moon); Lunar.
2. Shaped like a crescent moon; lunate.
3. (chiefly historical) (Believed to be) influenced by the Moon, as in
character, growth, or properties.
4. (alchemy, chemistry, historical) Of or pertaining to silver (which
was symbolically associated with the Moon by alchemists).
5. (astronomy) Of or pertaining to travel through space between the
Earth and the Moon, or exploration and scientific investigation of the
Moon.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lunar>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
 The people we lost in Aurora loved, and were loved. They were
mothers and fathers; husbands and wives; sisters and brothers; sons and
daughters; friends and neighbors. They had hopes for the future and
dreams that were not yet fulfilled. And if there's anything to take away
from this tragedy, it's a reminder that life is fragile. Our time here
is limited and it is precious. And what matters in the end are not the
small and trivial things which often consume our lives. It's how we
choose to treat one another, and love one another. It's what we do on a
daily basis to give our lives meaning and to give our lives purpose.
That's what matters. That's why we're here. Â
--Barack Obama
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>
The two central characters of Carnivà le, an HBO television series, were
Ben Hawkins (actor pictured), a young man working in a traveling
carnival; and Brother Justin Crowe, a Californian preacher. Most of the
characters are introduced in Ben's story, though several others interact
mainly with Brother Justin; some appear in mysterious dreams and visions
connecting the slowly converging storylines. Show creator Daniel Knauf
submitted elaborate character biographies, which were rewritten before
the filming of the first season began and provided to the actors and
production personnel. The original character backgrounds were summarized
on HBO's website, and were provided in full to fans after the show's
cancellation. Due to their nature, these sources contain information on
the intended fate of the characters beyond the cancellation of
Carnivà le after the second season. They do not offer canon information
per se, but provide a frame for the characters' motivation throughout
the series. (This article is part of a featured topic: Carnivà le.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Carniv%C3%A0le>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1702:
Great Northern War: Polish–Saxon forces were defeated by a
Swedish army half their size at the Battle of Kliszów.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Klisz%C3%B3w>
1981:
French president François Mitterrand privately showed U.S.
president Ronald Reagan a dossier revealing that the Soviets had been
stealing American technological research and development.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farewell_Dossier>
2013:
The NASA spacecraft Cassini took a photograph of Saturn with
Earth in the distance (detail pictured), for which people were invited
to "wave at Saturn".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Smiled>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
tall order:
(originally US, idiomatic) A big job; a difficult challenge.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tall_order>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
 When I'm gone, people will no doubt remember me for Queen, but I
would much rather be remembered for attempting to change the way we
treat our fellow creatures. Â
--Brian May
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brian_May>
Paper Mario is a video game spinoff series of the Mario franchise,
developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for its
various video game consoles. The series began when Square took its Final
Fantasy franchise to Sony's PlayStation console, leaving Nintendo
without a role-playing game (RPG) for the Nintendo 64. The series
follows Mario on various quests to defeat one or more antagonists
(including Bowser) in worlds created with papercraft materials. The
first game in the series, Paper Mario, was released in August 2000. The
series has received praise for its writing, characters, and graphics,
but garnered criticism for its transition from traditional role-playing
to action-adventure, starting with Super Paper Mario for the Wii. The
newest game in the series, The Origami King, was released on July 17,
2020.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_Mario>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1771:
Dene men, acting as guides to Samuel Hearne on his exploration
of the Coppermine River in present-day Nunavut, Canada, massacred a
group of about 20 Copper Inuit.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Falls_massacre>
1968:
Led by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party
overthrew Iraqi president Abdul Rahman Arif.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17_July_Revolution>
1981:
A structural failure caused a walkway at the Hyatt Regency
hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S., to collapse (damage pictured),
killing 114 people and injuring 216 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt_Regency_walkway_collapse>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
justice delayed is justice denied:
If a wrong is not corrected within a reasonable time, it is as though
the wrong were not corrected at all.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/justice_delayed_is_justice_denied>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
 First-time novelists have a tough row to hoe. Our publishers
don't have a lot of promotional budget to throw at unknown factors like
us. Mostly, we rise and fall based on word-of-mouth. Â
--Cory Doctorow
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cory_Doctorow>
Morningside Park is a 30-acre (12-hectare) public park in Upper
Manhattan, New York City. The area, originally known as "Muscota" by the
Lenape Native Americans, features a cliff that separates Morningside
Heights (to the west) from Harlem. The city commissioned Central Park's
designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux to produce a design for
the park, which they did in 1873. Jacob Wrey Mould was hired to design
new plans in 1880, but little progress occurred until Olmsted and Vaux
were asked to modify their plans following Mould's death in 1886. After
the park was completed in 1895, three sculptures were installed:
Lafayette and Washington, Carl Schurz Memorial, and Alfred Lincoln
Seligman Fountain. Columbia University proposed constructing a gym in
the park's southern end in the early 1960s, but abandoned the plan after
students protested in 1968. The site of the unbuilt gym was turned into
a waterfall and pond around 1990, and an arboretum was added in 1998.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morningside_Park_%28Manhattan%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1931:
Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie promulgated the nation's first
constitution, replacing the Fetha Nagast, which had been the supreme law
since the Middle Ages.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1931_Constitution_of_Ethiopia>
1951:
The Catcher in the Rye, an American coming-of-age novel by
J. D. Salinger, was first published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye>
1983:
A Sikorsky S-61 helicopter operated by British Airways crashed
in thick fog in the Celtic Sea, killing 20 of the 26 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_British_Airways_Sikorsky_S-61_crash>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
wristlet:
1. An elastic band worn to keep a glove from slipping off the wrist.
2. A decorative band or bracelet that encircles the wearer's wrist;
especially, a closely knitted one to keep it warm; a muffetee.
3. A small handbag with a short strap for attaching it to the wearer's
wrist.
4. A handcuff.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wristlet>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
 What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done
reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of
yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.
That doesn't happen much, though. Â
--The Catcher in the Rye
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye>