Imaginative Tales was an American fantasy and science fiction magazine
launched in September 1954 by William Hamling's Greenleaf Publishing
Company. It began as a vehicle for novel-length humorous fantasy, with
initial issues featuring stories by Charles F. Myers and Robert Bloch.
After a year, Hamling switched the focus to science fiction, and it
became similar in content to its sister magazine Imagination, publishing
routine space operas. In 1958, with public interest in space high,
Hamling changed the title to Space Travel, but there was little effect
on sales. Magazine circulation was suffering because of the rise of the
paperback, and the liquidation in 1957 of American News Company, a major
magazine distributor, made it even harder for small magazines to
survive. Hamling eventually folded both Imaginative Tales and
Imagination in 1958, preferring to invest the money in Rogue, a men's
magazine he had started in imitation of Playboy in 1955.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginative_Tales>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1841:
Thomas Cook, founder of the travel company Thomas Cook & Son,
organised his first excursion, escorting about 500 people from Leicester
to Loughborough.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cook>
1946:
Named after Bikini Atoll, the site of the nuclear weapons test
Operation Crossroads in the Marshall Islands, the modern bikini was
introduced at a fashion show in Paris.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikini>
1954:
Elvis Presley recorded his first single, "That's All Right", at
Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That%27s_All_Right>
2006:
The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting
hours after North Korea reportedly tested at least seven separate
ballistic missiles.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_North_Korean_missile_test>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
coffee table book:
A large book, usually with lavish illustrations, typically displayed on
a coffee table.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coffee_table_book>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is
truly free. First, society begins by trying to beat you up. If this
fails, they try to poison you. If this fails too, they finish by loading
honors on your head.
--Jean Cocteau
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Cocteau>
Fort Concho is a former United States Army installation and a National
Historic Landmark located in San Angelo, Texas. It was established in
1867 and was an active military base for 22 years. The fort was the
base of the 4th Cavalry from 1867 to 1875, and of the "Buffalo Soldiers"
of the 10th Cavalry from 1875 to 1882. The fort was abandoned in
June 1889 and over the next twenty years was divided into residences
and businesses, with the buildings repurposed or recycled for their
materials. Efforts to preserve and restore Fort Concho began in the
1900s and the Fort Concho Museum was founded in 1928. Fort Concho was
named a National Historic Landmark District on July 4, 1961, and is one
of the best-preserved examples of the military installations built by
the US Army in Texas.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Concho>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1855:
The first edition of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass was
published, and it went on to become one of the most important
collections of American poetry.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaves_of_Grass>
1941:
The Holocaust: During the German occupation of Latvia, a number
of synagogues in Riga were set on fire, killing many Jews who were
confined within.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_the_Riga_synagogues>
1951:
William Shockley announced the invention of the junction
transistor (example pictured), for which he, John Bardeen, and Walter
Houser Brattain later won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shockley>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
all-American:
1. Comprising things that are wholly from the United States of America;
completely made in the United States.
2. Regarded as embodying the ideal qualities of the United States;
(specifically) of a person: courageous, heroic; honest, wholesome, etc.
3. (US, chiefly sports) Of a person or a team, or some other thing:
regarded as the best in the United States.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/all-American>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The
general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every
view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with
saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to
ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope
for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever
refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion
to them.
--Thomas Jefferson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson>
Ambulocetus natans is a species of early amphibious archaeocete cetacean
from the Kuldana Formation in Pakistan during the early Eocene, 48 or
47 million years ago. It is among the most completely known Eocene
cetaceans, vital to the study of cetacean evolution and the transition
from land to sea. Ambulocetus probably had a long, broad, and powerful
snout, and eyes near the top of the head. It may have hunted like a
crocodile, waiting near the water's surface and ambushing large mammals,
using the jaws to clamp onto and drown or thrash prey. It may have swum
like a river otter, alternating beats of the hind limbs while keeping
the forelimbs tucked in for most of its propulsive power, simultaneously
undulating the torso and tail. It had four functional limbs and may have
walked much like a sea lion. It possibly had webbed feet and lacked a
tail fluke. It lived in a hot, coastal swamp, probably in a river mouth.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambulocetus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1863:
Pickett's Charge, a futile Confederate infantry assault against
Union Army positions, occurred during the final and bloodiest day of
fighting in the Battle of Gettysburg, marking a turning point in the
American Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickett%27s_Charge>
1940:
Second World War: The Royal Navy attacked the French fleet at
Mers El Kébir (ship pictured), fearing that the ships would fall into
Axis hands after the French–German armistice.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Mers-el-K%C3%A9bir>
1970:
Dan-Air Flight 1903 crashed into the slopes of the Montseny
Massif in Catalonia, Spain, killing all 112 people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan-Air_Flight_1903>
2013:
General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led a coalition to depose Egyptian
president Mohamed Morsi in a coup d'état, suspending the constitution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Egyptian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ambivert:
(psychology) A person who is neither clearly extroverted nor
introverted, but has characteristics of each.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ambivert>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The decisive moment in human evolution is perpetual. That is why
the revolutionary spiritual movements that declare all former things
worthless are in the right, for nothing has yet happened.
--Franz Kafka
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka>
The green rosella (Platycercus caledonicus) is a parrot native to the
Australian state of Tasmania and some Bass Strait islands. The species
was described by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788.
At up to 37 cm (14.5 in) long, it is the largest species in its genus.
Its underparts, neck and head are yellow, with a red band above the beak
and violet-blue cheeks. The back is mostly black and green, and its long
tail blue and green. The female has duller yellow plumage and more
prominent red markings, as well as a smaller beak. Found in a wide range
of habitats with some form of tree cover, the green rosella is
predominantly herbivorous, consuming seeds, berries, nuts, fruits, and
flowers, but it may also eat insect larvae and insects such as psyllids.
Nesting takes place in tree hollows. The green rosella is widespread
across Tasmania, but the King Island subspecies has been classed as
vulnerable.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_rosella>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1816:
The French frigate Méduse ran aground off the coast of
present-day Mauritania, with the survivors escaping on a makeshift raft,
depicted in Théodore Géricault's painting The Raft of the Medusa
(pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raft_of_the_Medusa>
1881:
U.S. president James A. Garfield was fatally shot at the
Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station in Washington, D.C.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_James_A._Garfield>
1941:
An SS unit arrived in Vilnius, Lithuania, and began the
systematic execution of up to 100,000 people over the next three years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponary_massacre>
2013:
The International Astronomical Union announced that the fourth
and fifth moons of Pluto to be discovered would be named Kerberos and
Styx, respectively.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx_%28moon%29>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
tinge:
1. (transitive) To add a small amount of colour; to tint; (by extension)
to add a small amount of some other thing.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To affect or alter slightly, particularly
due to the actual or metaphorical influence of some element or thing.
3. (intransitive) To change slightly in shade due to the addition of
colour; (by extension) to change slightly in quality due to the addition
of some other thing.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tinge>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The doctrine you desire, absolute, perfect dogma that alone
provides wisdom, does not exist. Nor should you long for a perfect
doctrine, my friend. Rather, you should long for the perfection of
yourself. The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is
lived, not taught.
--Hermann Hesse
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse>
John Early (July 1, 1814 – May 23, 1873) was a Catholic priest and
Jesuit who held several prominent positions in American academia. Born
in Ireland, he emigrated to the United States in 1833 and was educated
in Maryland and Washington, D.C. After he began ministering, he was
appointed the president of the College of the Holy Cross in 1848. In
1852, he founded St. Ignatius Church and Loyola College in Baltimore to
educate the lay former students of St. Mary's Seminary and College.
Early left in 1858 to become the president of Georgetown University,
which operated through the Civil War despite being commandeered several
times by the Union Army. In 1866, Early returned to Loyola College as
president, where he restarted the conferral of degrees following the
war. He finally returned to Georgetown in 1870 as president and oversaw
the first years of the Law Department. He died in 1873.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Early_%28educator%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1874:
The Remington No. 1, the first commercially successful
typewriter, went on sale.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholes_and_Glidden_typewriter>
1943:
The municipality of Tokyo City was dissolved, with its
territory forming the special wards of the newly established Tokyo
Metropolis (government building pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo>
2008:
Rioting erupted in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, over allegations of
fraud surrounding the recent legislative election.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_riot_in_Mongolia>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
motlopi:
The shepherd tree or shepherd's tree (Boscia albitrunca), an evergreen
tree native to southern and tropical Africa which is one of the most
important forage trees of the Kalahari.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/motlopi>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Astronomy is perhaps the science whose discoveries owe least to
chance, in which human understanding appears in its whole magnitude, and
through which man can best learn how small he is.
--Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Georg_Christoph_Lichtenberg>
"All About That Bass" is the debut single of American singer-songwriter
Meghan Trainor (pictured), released through Epic Records on June 30,
2014. The song was included on Trainor's first extended play (EP) Title
(2014) and her studio album of the same name (2015). Written by Trainor
and producer Kevin Kadish, "All About That Bass" is a bubblegum pop,
doo-wop and hip hop track. Trainor, who struggled with her negative body
image as a teenager, was inspired to write the song to promote self-
acceptance. Some music critics praised the song's production and
memorable message, while others called it a novelty song and criticized
the failure of its lyrics to empower all body types. The song was
nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 57th Annual
Grammy Awards. It was the best-selling song in the United States by a
female artist during the 2010s, and was certified Diamond by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_About_That_Bass>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1894:
London's Tower Bridge, a combined bascule and suspension bridge
over the River Thames, was inaugurated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Bridge>
1934:
German chancellor Adolf Hitler began a purge of the SA, the
Nazi Party's paramilitary wing, and other political rivals in the Night
of the Long Knives, executing at least 85 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives>
2009:
Yemenia Flight 626 crashed into the Indian Ocean near the
Comoros, killing 152 people, with French schoolgirl Bahia Bakari the
sole survivor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemenia_Flight_626>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
plat:
1. A plot of land; a lot.
2. A map showing the boundaries of real properties (delineating one or
more plots of land), especially one that forms part of a legal document.
3. (obsolete) A plot, a scheme.
4. (transitive) To create a plat; to lay out property lots and streets;
to map. […]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plat>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Love, then, hath every bliss in store; 'Tis friendship, and 'tis
something more. Each other every wish they give; Not to know love is
not to live.
--John Gay
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Gay>
Berlin, Ontario, changed its name to Kitchener by referendum in May and
June 1916. Named in 1833 after the capital of Prussia and later the
German Empire, Berlin was heavily German-Canadian, and its residents
enjoyed a blend of British and German culture. The name Berlin became
unsavoury for residents after Great Britain and Canada's entry into the
First World War, as German Canadians experienced increasing anti-German
sentiment. In a vote characterized by intimidation and high voter
turnout, the 19 May 1916 referendum on changing the name narrowly
passed; a second vote to choose the new name saw low turnout. The vote
settled on Kitchener, named for British field marshal War Secretary Lord
Kitchener. The city was officially renamed on 1 September 1916. After
the war, the city experienced a decline in its German culture with
German Canadians being culturally assimilated into the broader Canadian
identity.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_to_Kitchener_name_change>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1776:
The first privateer battle of the American Revolutionary War,
the Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet, was fought near Cape May, New Jersey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Turtle_Gut_Inlet>
1864:
A passenger train fell through an open swing bridge into the
Richelieu River near present-day Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, killing as
many as 99 people and injuring 100 others in Canada's worst railway
accident.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St-Hilaire_train_disaster>
1914:
During the second day of anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo (aftermath
pictured), numerous buildings owned by ethnic Serbs were vandalized and
looted.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Serb_riots_in_Sarajevo>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
citerior:
(literary) Chiefly in place names: situated on the nearer side.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/citerior>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
No man can draw a free breath who does not share with other men a
common and disinterested ideal. Life has taught us that love does not
consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the
same direction. There is no comradeship except through union in the same
high effort.
--Antoine de Saint Exupéry
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint_Exup%C3%A9ry>
Phillip Davey (1896–1953) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria
Cross. Along with his unit, the 10th Battalion, he landed at Anzac Cove,
Gallipoli, on 25 April 1915. He fought with his unit against the
Ottoman army until he was evacuated sick in early November. He rejoined
his battalion on the Western Front in October 1916. In January 1918 he
was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in rescuing a wounded man
under fire. He was promoted to corporal in April. On 28 June, in the
lead-up to the capture of Merris, he killed an eight-man German machine-
gun crew, saving his platoon from annihilation, for which he was awarded
the Victoria Cross. During this action he was severely wounded. He
returned to Australia to be discharged, and was employed by South
Australian Railways before dying in 1953, having suffered for years with
bronchitis and emphysema. His medals are displayed in the Hall of Valour
at the Australian War Memorial.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Davey>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1846:
Belgian musician Adolphe Sax patented his design of the
saxophone (example pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolphe_Sax>
1956:
Polish workers demanding better working conditions began
massive protests in Poznań, but were later violently repressed by the
Polish People's Army and the Internal Security Corps.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozna%C5%84_protests_of_1956>
2016:
Gunmen attacked Istanbul's Atatürk Airport, killing 45 people
and injuring more than 230 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Atat%C3%BCrk_Airport_attack>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
onager:
1. The Asiatic wild ass or hemione (Equus hemionus), an animal of the
horse family native to Asia; specifically, the Persian onager, Persian
wild ass, or Persian zebra (Equus hemionus onager).
2. (military, historical) A military engine acting like a sling which
threw stones from a bag or wooden bucket powered by the torsion from a
bundle of ropes or sinews operated by machinery; a torsion catapult.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/onager>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not
be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we
may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding these
smaller differences.
--John Wesley
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Wesley>
CM Punk (born 1978) is an American retired professional wrestler, best
known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), in which his
434-day reign as WWE Champion stands as the sixth-longest in history.
His professional career on the independent circuit, primarily with Ring
of Honor (ROH), began in 1999, and he won the ROH World Championship
once. He signed with WWE in 2005, won several championships, and became
WWE's 19th Triple Crown Champion in 203 days, the fastest wrestler to
achieve this. He is also the only back-to-back Money in the Bank winner,
won Superstar of the Year at the 2011 Slammy Awards, and was twice voted
Wrestler of the Year. His wrestling character was consistently portrayed
as outspoken, confrontational, sharp-tongued, anti-establishment,
straight edge, and iconoclastic. He retired from professional wrestling
in 2014, and then pursued a short-lived career in mixed martial arts. He
later worked as a commentator with Cage Fury Fighting Championships
(CFFC), and as an analyst on WWE Backstage.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CM_Punk>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1571:
Queen Elizabeth I issued a royal charter establishing Jesus
College, the first Protestant college at the University of Oxford.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_College,_Oxford>
1954:
Jacobo Árbenz resigned as President of Guatemala following a
CIA-led coup against his administration.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobo_%C3%81rbenz>
1994:
Members of the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas
in Matsumoto, Nagano, killing eight people and injuring more than five
hundred others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsumoto_sarin_attack>
2017:
Websites of Ukrainian organizations were swamped by a massive
cyberattack, blamed on Russian military hackers, using the malware
Petya.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petya_%28malware%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pushbike:
1. (Australia, New Zealand, Britain, informal) A pedal bicycle, as
distinguished from a motorized bicycle.
2. (intransitive, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, informal) To travel
by pushbike.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pushbike>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If love does not know how to give and take without restrictions,
it is not love, but a transaction that never fails to lay stress on a
plus and a minus.
--Emma Goldman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emma_Goldman>
Shojo Beat was a shōjo manga magazine published in North America by Viz
Media. Launched in June 2005 as a sister magazine for Shonen Jump, it
featured serialized chapters from six manga series per issue, as well as
articles on Japanese culture, manga, anime, fashion and beauty. Viz
launched a related imprint of the same name for female-oriented manga,
light novels and anime. Targeted at women aged 16 to 18, the first issue
of Shojo Beat launched with a circulation of 20,000. By 2007, the
average circulation was approximately 38,000 copies, with half coming
from subscriptions rather than store sales. It was well received by
critics, though some found the early issues boring and poorly written.
In May 2009, Viz announced that it was discontinuing the magazine; the
July 2009 issue was the last released. Fans were disappointed at the
news. Industry experts felt its loss left female manga fans without a
magazine of their own, but praised Viz for continuing the Shojo Beat
imprint and branding for its shōjo manga and anime releases.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shojo_Beat>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1889:
Bangui, the capital and largest city of the present-day Central
African Republic, was founded in French Congo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangui>
1996:
Irish crime reporter Veronica Guerin was murdered while stopped
at a traffic light, an event that helped establish Ireland's Criminal
Assets Bureau.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Guerin>
2015:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges (plaintiff
pictured) that the right of same-sex couples to marry is guaranteed by
the Fourteenth Amendment.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obergefell_v._Hodges>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
indri:
One of the largest living lemurs, Indri indri, which is native to
Madagascar.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/indri>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
No art can be judged by purely aesthetic standards, although a
painting or a piece of music may appear to give a purely aesthetic
pleasure. Aesthetic enjoyment is an intensification of the vital
response, and this response forms the basis of all value judgements. The
existentialist contends that all values are connected with the problems
of human existence, the stature of man, the purpose of life. These
values are inherent in all works of art, in addition to their aesthetic
values, and are closely connected with them.
--Colin Wilson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Colin_Wilson>