The Grant Memorial gold dollar and silver half dollar were struck by the
United States Bureau of the Mint in 1922 in honor of the 100th
anniversary of the birth of Ulysses S. Grant, a leading Union general
during the Civil War and later the 18th president of the United States.
The two coins are identical in design and were sculpted by Laura Gardin
Fraser. The Ulysses S. Grant Centenary Memorial Association wanted to
sell 200,000 gold dollars to pay for projects in the areas of Grant's
birthplace and boyhood home. Congress authorized 250,000 half dollars,
but only 10,000 gold dollars. About 5,000 of each denomination were
struck with a special mark, a star (example pictured). All of the gold
dollars and most of the half dollars sold. The half dollar with star has
long been priced higher than most commemoratives; its rarity has also
caused it to be counterfeited. Money from the coins was used to help
preserve Grant's birthplace, but other planned projects were not
completed.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Memorial_coinage>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1924:
George Gershwin's composition Rhapsody in Blue premiered at
Aeolian Hall, New York City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhapsody_in_Blue>
1947:
The French fashion company Dior unveiled its New Look
collection (suit pictured), which revolutionized women's dress and re-
established Paris as the centre of the fashion world after World
War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dior>
1968:
Following the deaths of two employees on the job, black
sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, began a strike that lasted
more than two months.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_sanitation_strike>
2001:
The NASA space probe NEAR Shoemaker touched down on Eros,
becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEAR_Shoemaker>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Darwinian:
1. Senses relating to Charles and Erasmus Darwin.
2. Of or pertaining to the scientific views advanced by the English
biologist, geologist, and naturalist Charles Darwin, especially his
theory that living organisms evolve through the natural selection of
inherited variations that increase organisms' ability to compete,
survive, and reproduce.
3. (by extension) Of or pertaining to Darwinism, which includes the
theories of Charles Darwin and other scientists.
4. (by extension) Competitive, especially in a ruthless manner.
5. (by extension) Exhibiting an ability to adapt or develop in order to
survive; adaptable.
6. (chiefly historical) Of or pertaining to the philosophical and
scientific views, or poetic style, of the natural philosopher,
physiologist, and poet Erasmus Darwin.
7. Of or pertaining to Darwin, the capital city of the Northern
Territory, Australia.
8. Senses relating to Charles and Erasmus Darwin.
9. An adherent of Charles Darwin's theory of the origin of species, or
of Darwinism.
10. (obsolete, rare) An adherent of the philosophical and scientific
views, or poetic style, of Erasmus Darwin.
11. A native or resident of Darwin in the Northern Territory, Australia.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Darwinian>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Our popular Government has often been called an experiment. Two
points in it our people have already settled — the successful
establishing and the successful administering of it. One still remains
— its successful maintenance against a formidable internal attempt to
overthrow it. It is now for them to demonstrate to the world that those
who can fairly carry an election can also suppress a rebellion; that
ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets, and that
when ballots have fairly and constitutionally decided there can be no
successful appeal back to bullets; that there can be no successful
appeal except to ballots themselves at succeeding elections. Such will
be a great lesson of peace, teaching men that what they can not take by
an election neither can they take it by a war; teaching all the folly of
being the beginners of a war.
--Abraham Lincoln
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln>
Bernard A. Maguire (February 11, 1818 – April 26, 1886) was a
Catholic priest and Jesuit who twice served as the president of
Georgetown University. Maguire emigrated with his family from Ireland to
Maryland at the age of six, where he studied under the Jesuits at Saint
John's College, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1837. He then
continued his education at Georgetown University, where he eventually
became a teacher and prefect. As prefect, Maguire was responsible for
quelling an uprising of 40 students who were unhappy with rules over the
meeting times of the Philodemic Society. In 1852, he became the
president of Georgetown University, and oversaw the partial separation
of the preparatory division from the college. He left in 1858 to do
pastoral work, but returned as president in 1866. Maguire directed the
university's rebuilding after the Civil War and the establishment of the
law school. His tenure ended in 1870, and he spent the rest of his life
in pastoral ministry.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_A._Maguire>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1851:
As part of celebrations marking the separation of Victoria from
New South Wales, the inaugural first-class cricket match in Australia
began at the Launceston Racecourse in Tasmania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Diemen%27s_Land_v_Port_Phillip,_1851>
1938:
The BBC aired an adaptation of a section of Czech writer Karel
Čapek's play R.U.R. in the first broadcast of science fiction on
television.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.R.>
1991:
The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization was
established in The Hague to represent the interests of indigenous
peoples, minorities, occupied nations, and other areas lacking
international recognition.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unrepresented_Nations_and_Peoples_Organization>
2001:
The computer worm Anna Kournikova, which would affect millions
of users worldwide, was released by a 20-year-old Dutch student.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Kournikova_%28computer_virus%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
radium:
1. The chemical element (symbol Ra) with an atomic number of 88. It is a
soft, shiny and silvery radioactive alkaline earth metal.
2. (textiles, dated) A type of cloth woven from silk or synthetic yarn,
often with a shiny appearance.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/radium>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In order to succeed it is not necessary to be much cleverer than
other people. All you have to do is be one day ahead of them.
--Leó Szilárd
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Le%C3%B3_Szil%C3%A1rd>
Operation PBHistory was a covert operation carried out in Guatemala by
the United States Central Intelligence Agency. It followed Operation
PBSuccess, which led to the overthrow of Guatemalan president Jacobo
Árbenz (pictured) in June 1954 and ended the Guatemalan Revolution.
PBHistory attempted to use documents left behind by Árbenz's
government, police agencies, trade unions and the communist Guatemalan
Party of Labour to demonstrate that the Guatemalan government had been
under the influence of the Soviet Union. The documents uncovered by the
operation proved useful to the Guatemalan intelligence agencies,
enabling the creation of a register of suspected communists. The
operation did not find evidence that the Guatemalan communists were
controlled by the Soviet government, and could not counter the narrative
that the United States had toppled the Árbenz government to serve the
interests of the United Fruit Company.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_PBHistory>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1814:
War of the Sixth Coalition: A French army led by Napoleon
effectively destroyed a small Russian corps commanded by Zakhar
Dmitrievich Olsufiev.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Champaubert>
1919:
The Inter-Allied Women's Conference opened as a counterpart to
the Paris Peace Conference, marking the first time that women were
allowed formal participation in an international treaty negotiation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Allied_Women%27s_Conference>
1964:
The Royal Australian Navy aircraft carrier Melbourne collided
with and sank the destroyer Voyager in Jervis Bay, killing 82 crew
members aboard the latter ship.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne%E2%80%93Voyager_collision>
2008:
The Namdaemun gate in Seoul, the first of South Korea's
National Treasures, was severely damaged by arson.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Namdaemun_fire>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pulse:
1. (uncountable) Annual leguminous plants (such as beans, lentils, and
peas) yielding grains or seeds used as food for humans or animals;
(countable) such a plant; a legume.
2. (uncountable) Edible grains or seeds from leguminous plants,
especially in a mature, dry condition; (countable) a specific kind of
such a grain or seed.
3. (physiology)
4. A normally regular beat felt when arteries near the skin (for
example, at the neck or wrist) are depressed, caused by the heart
pumping blood through them.
5. The nature or rate of this beat as an indication of a person's
health.
6. (figuratively) A beat or throb; also, a repeated sequence of such
beats or throbs.
7. (figuratively) The focus of energy or vigour of an activity, place,
or thing; also, the feeling of bustle, busyness, or energy in a place;
the heartbeat.
8. (chiefly biology, chemistry) An (increased) amount of a substance
(such as a drug or an isotopic label) given over a short time.
9. (cooking, chiefly attributively) A setting on a food processor which
causes it to work in a series of short bursts rather than continuously,
in order to break up ingredients without liquidizing them; also, a use
of this setting.
10. (music, prosody) The beat or tactus of a piece of music or verse;
also, a repeated sequence of such beats.
11. (physics)
12. A brief burst of electromagnetic energy, such as light, radio waves,
etc.
13. Synonym of autosoliton (“a stable solitary localized structure that
arises in nonlinear spatially extended dissipative systems due to
mechanisms of self-organization”)
14. (also electronics) A brief increase in the strength of an electrical
signal; an impulse.
15. (transitive, also figuratively) To emit or impel (something) in
pulses or waves.
16. (transitive, chiefly biology, chemistry) To give to (something,
especially a cell culture) an (increased) amount of a substance, such as
a drug or an isotopic label, over a short time.
17. (transitive, cooking) To operate a food processor on (some
ingredient) in short bursts, to break it up without liquidizing it.
18. (transitive, electronics, physics)
19. To apply an electric current or signal that varies in strength to
(something).
20. To manipulate (an electric current, electromagnetic wave, etc.) so
that it is emitted in pulses.
21. (intransitive, chiefly figuratively and literary) To expand and
contract repeatedly, like an artery when blood is flowing though it, or
the heart; to beat, to throb, to vibrate, to pulsate.
22. (intransitive, figuratively) Of an activity, place, or thing: to
bustle with energy and liveliness; to pulsate.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pulse>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
What is laid down, ordered, factual is never enough to embrace
the whole truth: life always spills over the rim of every cup.
--Boris Pasternak
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Boris_Pasternak>
Apollo 14 (January 31 – February 9, 1971) was the eighth crewed
mission in the United States Apollo program, and the third to land on
the Moon. Commander Alan Shepard (pictured), Command Module Pilot Stuart
Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell overcame a series of
malfunctions en route to the Moon that, after the failure of Apollo 13,
might have resulted in a second consecutive aborted mission, and
possibly the premature end of the Apollo program. Shepard and Mitchell
made their lunar landing on February 5 in the Fra Mauro formation,
where they undertook two extravehicular activities (EVAs or moonwalks).
In Apollo 14's most famous incident, Shepard hit two golf balls he had
brought with him with a makeshift club. Roosa remained in lunar orbit,
where he took photographs of the Moon and performed experiments. After
liftoff from the surface and a successful docking, the mission returned
to Earth, splashing down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_14>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1855:
A series of hoof-like marks were discovered in the snow in
Devon, England, continuing throughout the countryside for some 40 to 100
miles (60 to 160 km).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Footprints>
1907:
More than 3,000 women in London participated in the Mud March,
the first large procession organised by the National Union of Women's
Suffrage Societies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_March_%28suffragists%29>
1971:
A 6.6 Mw earthquake struck the northern San Fernando Valley
near the Los Angeles district of Sylmar, killing 65 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_San_Fernando_earthquake>
1996:
Breaking a seventeen-month ceasefire, the Provisional Irish
Republican Army detonated a powerful truck bomb in Canary Wharf, London,
killing two people and injuring more than a hundred others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Docklands_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gassy:
1. Having the nature of, or containing, gas.
2. (specifically) Of a beverage: containing dissolved gas (usually
carbon dioxide); fizzy.
3. (specifically) Of a person: tending to burp; burpy.
4. (specifically) Of a person: tending to release flatus; flatulent.
5. Of food or drink: tending to cause flatulence.
6. (figuratively, informal) Tending to be long-winded or wordy,
especially in a boastful and vain manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gassy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When my mother was dying in the hospital, he thought, when she
knew her end was coming, it was not me she looked to but someone who
stood behind me: her mother or the ghost of her mother. To me she was a
woman but to herself she was still a child calling to her mother to hold
her hand and help her. And her own mother, in the secret life we do not
see, was a child too. I come from a line of children without end.
--J. M. Coetzee
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._M._Coetzee>
Elizabeth Raffald (1733–1781) was an English author, innovator and
entrepreneur. Born and raised in Doncaster, Yorkshire, Raffald went into
domestic service for fifteen years, ending as the housekeeper to the
Warburton baronets at Arley Hall, Cheshire. She moved with her husband
to Manchester, where she opened a register office to introduce domestic
workers to employers; she also ran a cookery school and sold food from
the premises. In 1769 she published her cookery book The Experienced
English Housekeeper, which contains the first recipe for a "Bride Cake"
that is recognisable as a modern wedding cake. She is possibly the
inventor of the Eccles cake. In August 1772 Raffald published The
Manchester Directory, a listing of 1,505 traders and civic leaders in
Manchester—the first such listing for the up-and-coming town. Her
recipes were plagiarised by other authors, notably by Isabella Beeton in
her bestselling Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Raffald>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1837:
Richard Mentor Johnson became the only person ever to be
elected Vice President of the United States by the Senate.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Mentor_Johnson>
1879:
Enraged by a controversial umpiring decision, cricket
spectators rioted and attacked the England team during a match in
Sydney, Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Riot_of_1879>
1960:
The official groundbreaking of the Walk of Fame (example star
pictured) took place in Hollywood, California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Walk_of_Fame>
2010:
A freak storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan
triggered a series of avalanches that buried over 3.5 km (2.2 mi) of
road, killed 175 people and trapped more than 2,500 travellers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Salang_avalanches>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pipe:
1. (music) A wind instrument consisting of a tube, often lined with
holes to allow for adjustment in pitch, sounded by blowing into the
tube. […]
2. A rigid tube that transports water, steam, or other fluid, as used in
plumbing and numerous other applications. […]
3. (Australia, colloquial, now historical) An anonymous satire or essay,
insulting and frequently libellous, written on a piece of paper which
was rolled up and left somewhere public where it could be found and thus
spread, to embarrass the author's enemies.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pipe>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The world is not divine sport, it is divine destiny. There is
divine meaning in the life of the world, of man, of human persons, of
you and of me. Creation happens to us, burns itself into us, recasts us
in burning — we tremble and are faint, we submit. We take part in
creation, meet the Creator, reach out to Him, helpers and companions.
--Martin Buber
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Buber>
Margate F.C. is an English football team based in the seaside resort of
Margate, Kent. They currently play in the Isthmian League Premier
Division. The club was founded in 1896 and joined the Southern Football
League in 1933. After a spell in the Kent League after World War II,
the team returned to the Southern League in 1959 and remained there
until 2001 when they gained promotion to the Football Conference, the
highest level of English non-League football. Their stay at this level
saw the team forced to groundshare with other clubs due to drawn-out and
problematic redevelopment work at their Hartsdown Park stadium, and they
were expelled from the Conference National and subsequently relegated to
the Isthmian League. The team, known for a number of years during the
1980s as Thanet United, and nicknamed "The Gate", have twice reached the
third round proper of the FA Cup. On the second occasion, they played
Tottenham Hotspur, the reigning UEFA Cup holders.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margate_F.C.>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1795:
The Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution,
limiting the ability of U.S. citizens and foreign nationals to sue U.S.
states in federal courts, was ratified.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleventh_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Const…>
1914:
The film Kid Auto Races at Venice, featuring the first
appearance of comedy actor Charlie Chaplin's character "The Tramp", was
released.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin>
1948:
Neil Harvey became the youngest Australian to score a century
in Test cricket.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Harvey>
1991:
The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army launched
mortars at 10 Downing Street, London, in a failed attempt to assassinate
British prime minister John Major.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downing_Street_mortar_attack>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
finesse:
1. (transitive, chiefly Canada, US, politics) To evade (a problem,
situation, etc.) by using some clever argument or strategem.
2. (transitive, card games) To play (a card) as a finesse.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To handle or manage carefully or
skilfully; to manipulate in a crafty way.
4. (intransitive, card games) To attempt to win a trick by finessing.
5. (intransitive, croquet, obsolete) To play a ball out of the way of an
opponent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/finesse>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Charity begins at home, and justice begins next door.
--The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Chuzzlewit>
Robert Goff, Baron Goff of Chieveley (1926–2016) was an English
barrister and judge. He was the original co-author of Goff & Jones, the
leading English law textbook on restitution and unjust enrichment, first
published in 1966. He practised as a commercial barrister from 1951 to
1975, and then began his career as a judge. He was appointed to the
Judicial Committee of the House of Lords in 1986 and was Senior Lord of
Appeal in Ordinary from 1996 until his retirement in 1998. Goff long
advocated a complementary view of the roles of the legal academic and
judge. The former Lord Justice of Appeal Stephen Tomlinson said that "no
judge has done more than Robert to ensure that the views of legal
academic commentators now regularly inform the decision-making in our
higher courts". For building bridges between judges in the United
Kingdom and Germany, Goff was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal
Republic of Germany (First Class).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Goff,_Baron_Goff_of_Chieveley>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1806:
Napoleonic Wars: A British naval squadron captured or destroyed
five French ships of the line at the Battle of San Domingo in the
Caribbean Sea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Domingo>
1819:
British official Stamford Raffles signed a treaty with Sultan
Hussein Shah of Johor, establishing Singapore as a trading post for the
East India Company.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founding_of_modern_Singapore>
1951:
A train derailed while crossing a temporary wooden trestle in
Woodbridge, New Jersey, causing 85 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodbridge_train_derailment>
1987:
Mary Gaudron became the first woman to be appointed a justice
of the High Court of Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Gaudron>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
koha:
1. (New Zealand) A Māori tradition of reciprocal giving of gifts.
2. (New Zealand, by extension) A voluntary donation given for a service
that has been provided.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/koha>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I've seen what men can do for each other and do to each other.
I've seen war and peace, feast and famine, depression and prosperity,
sickness and health. I've seen the depths of suffering and the peaks of
triumph. And I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right
will always eventually triumph, and that there is purpose and worth to
each and every life.
--Ronald Reagan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan>
Cheadle Hulme is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport in
Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Cheshire, it lies south-
east of Manchester, in the Ladybrook Valley. In 2011, it had a
population of 26,479. Evidence of Bronze Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon
activity, including coins, jewellery and axes, has been discovered
locally. The area was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086; in
the early 14th century, it was split into southern and northern parts at
about the future locations of Cheadle Hulme and Cheadle respectively.
Unlike many English villages, it did not grow around a church; instead
it formed from several hamlets. From the late 19th century until 1974,
Cheadle Hulme was united with neighbouring places to form the urban
district of Cheadle and Gatley. Thereafter, Cheadle Hulme became a
distinct place in its own right. Cheadle Hulme has a railway station and
is close to Manchester Airport, the M60 and the A34.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheadle_Hulme>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1869:
Prospectors in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia, discovered the
largest alluvial gold nugget ever found, known as the "Welcome
Stranger".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_Stranger>
1909:
Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announced his invention of
Bakelite (samples pictured), the world's first synthetic plastic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite>
1958:
A U.S. Mark 15 nuclear bomb disappeared off the shores of Tybee
Island, Georgia, after it was jettisoned during a practice exercise when
the bomber carrying it collided in midair with a fighter plane.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Tybee_Island_mid-air_collision>
2004:
The National Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Haiti
captured the city of Gonaïves, starting a coup d'état against
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Haitian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
who would have thunk it:
(colloquial, sometimes sarcastic) A rhetorical question used to express
incredulity: who would have guessed it?; who would have thought that
would happen?
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/who_would_have_thunk_it>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In matters of national security emotion is no substitute for
intelligence, nor rigidity for prudence. To act coolly, intelligently
and prudently in perilous circumstances is the test of a man — and
also a nation.
--Adlai Stevenson II
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adlai_Stevenson_II>
Since the band's creation, the live performances of Nine Inch Nails, an
industrial rock band, have been given worldwide. In addition to regular
concerts, the band has performed at festivals and other one-off
performances. Nine Inch Nails' live performances differ from its in-
studio counterparts. Frontman Trent Reznor writes and performs nearly
all Nine Inch Nails studio material, but typically assembles groups of
backing musicians for live performances. Keyboardist Alessandro Cortini
said that "if you see the show and you're used to the CDs it's pretty
clear that the studio entity is different from the live entity". Live
Nine Inch Nails performances are accompanied by lighting, stage, and
video projection effects. Critical and commercial response to Nine Inch
Nails live performances has generally been positive. Critics have
pointed to the concerts' aggressive on-stage dynamic and visual designs
as high points. Reznor decided in 2008 to cease touring with the band
after a 2009 farewell tour. The band resumed touring in 2013.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Inch_Nails_live_performances>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1859:
Constantin von Tischendorf rediscovered the Codex Sinaiticus
(text sample pictured), a 4th-century great uncial codex of the Bible in
Greek, in Saint Catherine's Monastery, Egypt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Sinaiticus>
1945:
World War II: U.S. forces liberated the Santo Tomas Internment
Camp in Manila, the largest Japanese internment camp in the Philippines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_Tomas_Internment_Camp>
1974:
The Provisional Irish Republican Army bombed a motor coach
carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel and their family
members, killing twelve people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M62_coach_bombing>
1998:
An earthquake registering 5.9 MW struck northern Afghanistan,
triggering landslides that killed over 2,300 people and destroyed around
15,000 homes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_1998_Afghanistan_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cachexia:
(pathology) A systemic wasting of muscle tissue, with or without loss of
fat mass, that accompanies a chronic disease.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cachexia>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it but can
describe it only from the vantage point of distance.
--Charles Lindbergh
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Lindbergh>
The bee-eaters are near passerine birds of the family Meropidae,
containing three genera and twenty-seven species. Most species are found
in Africa and Asia, with a few in southern Europe, Australia, and New
Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage and slender
bodies, and usually by elongated central tail feathers. All have long
down-turned bills and medium to long wings, which may be pointed or
round. They predominantly eat flying insects, caught on the wing from an
open perch. Most bee-eaters are gregarious, forming colonies and nesting
in burrows. The eggs are white, with typically five to the clutch. Most
species are monogamous, and both parents care for the young, sometimes
with assistance from related birds in the colony. Bee-eaters may be
killed by raptors; their nests are raided by rodents and snakes, and
they can carry various parasites. Some species are adversely affected by
human activity or habitat loss, but none are threatened.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee-eater>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1781:
Fourth Anglo-Dutch War: British forces captured the Dutch
island of Sint Eustatius after a brief skirmish.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Sint_Eustatius>
1986:
Steve Jobs purchased Pixar from Lucasfilm and launched it as an
independent computer-animation studio.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar>
2014:
Russia's first school shooting took place when a student opened
fire at School No. 263 in Moscow, resulting in the deaths of a teacher
and a police officer.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Moscow_school_shooting>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
flare:
1. (transitive) To cause to burn.
2. (transitive) To cause inflammation; to inflame.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To open outward in shape.
4. (transitive, intransitive, aviation) To (operate an aircraft to)
transition from downward flight to level flight just before landing.
5. (intransitive) To blaze brightly.
6. (intransitive) To shine out with a sudden and unsteady light; to emit
a dazzling or painfully bright light.
7. (intransitive, figuratively) To shine out with gaudy colours; to be
offensively bright or showy.
8. (intransitive, figuratively) To suddenly happen or intensify.
9. (intransitive, figuratively) To suddenly erupt in anger.
10. (intransitive, obsolete) To be exposed to too much light.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/flare>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The needs of a human being are sacred. Their satisfaction cannot
be subordinated either to reasons of state, or to any consideration of
money, nationality, race, or colour, or to the moral or other value
attributed to the human being in question, or to any consideration
whatsoever. There is no legitimate limit to the satisfaction of the
needs of a human being except as imposed by necessity and by the needs
of other human beings.
--Simone Weil
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_Weil>