Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is a 2005 action-adventure video game, the
first in the Castlevania series by Konami to be released on the Nintendo
DS. It was written and produced by Koji Igarashi (pictured) and directed
by Satoshi Kushibuchi. Incorporating many elements from its predecessor,
Aria of Sorrow, it was commercially successful, selling more than 15,000
units in its first week in Japan and 164,000 in the United States within
three months. The protagonist, Soma Cruz, manages to escape the fate of
becoming the new Dracula with the help of allies. The game has platform
and role-playing elements, with a dark, gothic atmosphere. It introduces
a multiplayer mode and a "Magic Seal" system that requires the use of
the DS stylus to draw a pattern to defeat enemies. The game received
high scores from many video game publications and was considered one of
the best games on the Nintendo DS for 2005. (This article is part of a
featured topic: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Castlevania:_Aria_o…>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1609:
Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei demonstrated his first
telescope to Venetian lawmakers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei>
1875:
Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English
Channel, completing the journey in approximately 21 hours 40 minutes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Webb>
1975:
Bruce Springsteen released his commercial breakthrough album,
Born to Run.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_to_Run>
2012:
NASA's robotic space probe Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause and
entered interstellar space, making it the first spacecraft to do so.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
or bust:
(chiefly US, informal) Used to indicate one's intention to do everything
possible to achieve a goal, with failure being the only alternative.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/or_bust>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Weapons are like money; no one knows the meaning of enough.
--Martin Amis
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Amis>
The California Pacific International Exposition half dollar is a fifty-
cent piece that was struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in
1935 and 1936 as a commemorative coin. Its obverse depicts Minerva and
other elements of the Seal of California; the reverse shows buildings
from the California Pacific International Exposition (held 1935–1936),
which the coin was issued to honor. Legislation for the half dollar
moved through Congress without opposition in early 1935, and Robert I.
Aitken was hired to design it. The San Francisco Mint produced 250,000
coins, but expected sales did not materialize. The Exposition
Commission, left with over 180,000 pieces they could not sell, sought
and obtained legislation authorizing new coins. Although there was a
spike in prices for many commemorative coins in 1936, the Exposition
Commission's new coins also sold poorly, and 150,000 pieces were
returned to the Mint.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Pacific_International_Exposition_h…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1814:
War of 1812: British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting
fire to various U.S. government buildings, including what is now the
White House (damage depicted).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Washington>
1889:
The predominantly Māori New Zealand Native football team
played the last match of their 107-game tour, the longest in rugby union
history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1888%E2%80%9389_New_Zealand_Native_football_t…>
2004:
About 90 people died after suicide bombers attacked two
airliners flying out of Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Russian_aircraft_bombings>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
bandura:
(music) A Ukrainian plucked stringed instrument with a tear-shaped body,
like an asymmetrical lute or a vertical zither, which is played with
both hands while held upright on the lap.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bandura>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I am a Tory Anarchist. I should like every one to go about doing
just as he pleased — short of altering any of the things to which I
have grown accustomed.
--Max Beerbohm
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Beerbohm>
The Parachute Jump is a defunct amusement ride on the Riegelmann
Boardwalk in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. Listed on the U.S.
National Register of Historic Places and protected as a New York City
designated landmark, it consists of a 250-foot-tall (76-meter), 170
-short-ton (150-metric-ton) open-frame, steel parachute tower. The ride
has twelve cantilever steel arms radiating from the top of the tower.
When it was in operation, riders were belted into a suspended two-person
canvas seat, lifted to the top, and dropped; a parachute and shock
absorbers slowed their descent. The jump was the tallest structure built
for the 1939 New York World's Fair at Flushing Meadows. The ride was
moved to its current location in 1941, where it operated until the
1960s, when the Steeplechase amusement park shut down. After a period of
neglect, the frame was restored and fitted with a light-show system in
2006.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachute_Jump>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1873:
The Albert Bridge, spanning the River Thames in London, opened.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bridge,_London>
1943:
Second World War: A decisive Soviet victory against German
forces at the Battle of Kursk gave the Red Army the strategic initiative
for the rest of the war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kursk>
2010:
A former Philippine National Police officer hijacked a tourist
bus in Manila and held its occupants hostage for nearly 11 hours before
being killed by police.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_hostage_crisis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
limn:
1. (transitive, also figurative) To draw or paint; to delineate.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To illuminate, as a manuscript; to decorate
with gold or some other bright colour.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/limn>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We must expect for a long time yet to see capitalists still
striving to obtain the highest possible profits. But observe, that the
passion for wealth is certainly in some senses new. It grew up very
rapidly at the beginning of the present century; it was not so strong in
the last century, when men were much more content to lead a quiet easy
life of leisure. The change has really influenced the relations between
men; but in the future it is quite possible that the scramble for wealth
may grow less intense, and a change in the opposite direction take
place.
--Arnold Toynbee
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arnold_Toynbee>
John W. Beschter (1763–1842) was a Catholic priest from the Duchy of
Luxembourg who emigrated to the United States in 1807 to become a
missionary of the Society of Jesus. He took up ministry in rural
Pennsylvania, and was soon made the pastor of St. Mary's Church in
Lancaster. As pastor, Beschter was praised by Archbishop John Carroll
for ministering to Catholic congregations of three distinct ethnic and
linguistic groups, and quieting a parochial dispute over the nationality
and language of their pastor. In 1812, Beschter went to Maryland to
become the master of novices at the new Jesuit novitiate in White Marsh.
After two years, he returned to ministering in rural Pennsylvania and
Maryland. He became the pastor of the German congregation of St. John
the Evangelist in Baltimore, a position he held until 1828. The
following year, he became the president of Georgetown College. After
several months, he left the office, and returned to ministering in
Paradise, Pennsylvania, where he lived out his final years.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Beschter>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1777:
American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold used a ruse to
convince the British that a much larger force was arriving, causing them
to abandon the siege of Fort Stanwix.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fort_Stanwix>
1864:
Under the leadership of Henry Dunant and the International
Committee of the Red Cross, twelve European states and kingdoms signed
the First Geneva Convention, establishing rules for the protection of
victims of armed conflict.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Geneva_Convention>
2015:
A Hawker Hunter aircraft crashed at an airshow at Shoreham
Airport, England, killing eleven people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Shoreham_Airshow_crash>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
lorry:
1. (road transport, Britain) A motor vehicle for transporting goods, and
in some cases people; a truck.
2. (dated) A barrow or truck for shifting baggage, as at railway
stations.
3. (dated) A small cart or wagon used on the tramways in mines to carry
coal or rubbish.
4. (obsolete) A large, low, horse-drawn, four-wheeled wagon without
sides; also, a similar wagon modified for use on railways.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lorry>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero
to be one of those men who goes into battle.
--Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Norman_Schwarzkopf,_Jr.>
Tropical Storm Ileana was a small tropical cyclone that affected western
Mexico in early August 2018. The eleventh tropical cyclone and ninth
named storm of the 2018 Pacific hurricane season, Ileana originated from
a tropical wave that left the west coast of Africa and traveled across
the Atlantic Ocean before crossing into the eastern Pacific Ocean early
on August 4. The system began to strengthen on August 5, becoming
Tropical Storm Ileana. On August 6, it began to develop an eyewall
structure as it reached its peak intensity with winds of 65 mph
(100 km/h) and a pressure of 998 mbar (29.47 inHg). The storm became
intertwined with Hurricane John; the circulation of John disrupted
Ileana before absorbing it on August 7. Paralleling the coast of Mexico
for much of its existence, Ileana killed four people in Guerrero and
four others in Chiapas. There was flooding in the Mexican states of
Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Estado de México.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Ileana_%282018%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1911:
Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre by
museum employee Vincenzo Peruggia and was not recovered until two years
later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa>
1945:
American physicist Harry Daghlian accidentally dropped a
tungsten carbide brick onto a plutonium bomb core, exposing himself to
neutron radiation and later becoming the first Manhattan Project
fatality due to a criticality accident.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Daghlian>
2013:
Syrian civil war: Rockets containing sarin struck opposition-
controlled areas in the Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, resulting in at
least 281 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghouta_chemical_attack>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
anhedonic:
(psychiatry, also figurative) Showing anhedonia; having no capacity to
feel pleasure.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anhedonic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society — for
nothing suffocates the promise of America more than unbounded cynicism
and indifference. We must reclaim the tradition of community in our
society. Only by recognizing that we share a common obligation to one
another and to our country can we ever hope to maximize our national or
personal potential. We must reassert the oneness of America. America has
been and must once again be the seamless web of caring and community.
--Joe Biden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden>
George Tucker (August 20, 1775 – April 10, 1861) was an American
lawyer, politician, author, and educator. He wrote the first in-depth
biography of Thomas Jefferson, the first fictional account of colonial
life in Virginia, and the four-volume History of the United States.
Despite a social life which had been profligate, and at times even
scandalous, at age 50 he was named Professor of Moral Philosophy at
Jefferson’s newly founded University of Virginia and served in that
post for twenty years. A son of the first mayor of Hamilton, Bermuda, he
immigrated to Virginia at age 20, was educated at the College of
William and Mary, and was admitted to the bar. He was elected in 1816 to
the Virginia House of Delegates, then served in the United States House
of Representatives from 1819 to 1825. In 1827 he wrote A Voyage to the
Moon, one of America's earliest works of science fiction. He also
produced diverse compositions on slavery, suffrage, morality,
intracoastal navigation, wages, and banking.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Tucker_%28politician%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1882:
The 1812 Overture by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
debuted in Moscow, conducted by Ippolit Al'tani.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_Overture>
1920:
The American Professional Football Association, a predecessor
of the National Football League, was founded.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League>
1950:
Korean War: United Nations forces repelled an attempt by North
Korea to capture the city of Taegu.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Taegu>
2008:
Spanair Flight 5022 crashed just after take-off from Madrid's
Barajas Airport, killing 154 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanair_Flight_5022>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gamin:
(dated, also attributively) A homeless boy; a male street urchin; also
(more generally), a cheeky, street-smart boy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gamin>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To see a promising solution to a dilemma and then just leave it
to questionable development at its own pace without trying to aid its
implementation would seem a dereliction.
--Roger Wolcott Sperry
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Wolcott_Sperry>
Hyborian War is a play-by-mail game set during Robert E. Howard's
Hyborian Age in the world of Conan the Barbarian. The Origins
Award–winning game, published by Reality Simulations, Inc., has been
continuously available for play since 1985. The game’s genre is heroic
fantasy, also known as sword and sorcery. Conan appears as a wandering
hero whom players can employ until fortune takes him elsewhere. The game
designer wove multiple aspects of Howard's stories into Hyborian War
including diverse landscapes and cultures, grand armies, large-scale
battles, powerful wizards, and courageous and heroic deeds. Gameplay is
multifaceted and complex. Players choose from 36 kingdoms of small,
medium, and large sizes, each with different victory conditions. A
central focus of the game is conquest and expansion through military
action and diplomacy. Intrigue, magic, and other tools of statecraft in
a fantasy setting are available to players. The game retains an active
player base in the 21st century.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyborian_War>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1745:
Bonnie Prince Charlie (portrait shown) raised the Jacobite
standard at Glenfinnan, Scotland, in an attempt to regain the British
throne for his father, beginning the Jacobite rising of 1745.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobite_rising_of_1745>
1920:
Russian Civil War: Peasants in Tambov Governorate began a
rebellion against the Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tambov_Rebellion>
2003:
A Hamas suicide bomber killed 24 people and wounded more than
130 others, many of whom were Orthodox Jewish children, on a crowded
public bus in Shmuel HaNavi neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmuel_HaNavi_bus_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
humanitarian:
Concerned with people's welfare, and the alleviation of suffering;
compassionate, humane.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/humanitarian>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have no desire to get ugly, But I cannot help mentioning that
the door of a bigoted mind opens outwards so that the only result of the
pressure of facts upon it is to close it more snugly.
--Ogden Nash
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ogden_Nash>
The naval Battle of Lagos took place between a British fleet commanded
by Sir Edward Boscawen and a French fleet under Jean-François de La
Clue-Sabran over 18–19 August 1759 during the Seven Years' War. The
French Mediterranean Fleet successfully passed through the Strait of
Gibraltar, but was sighted by a British ship. The British fleet in
Gibraltar was undergoing a major refit and left port amidst great
confusion, with many ships delayed and sailing in a second squadron.
Aware that he was pursued, La Clue changed course, but half of his ships
failed to follow him in the dark. The British caught the French south
west of the Gulf of Cádiz, fierce fighting ensued, and one French ship
was captured. The British pursued the remaining six French ships
overnight and two managed to escape. The four survivors attempted to
shelter in neutral Portuguese waters near Lagos, but Boscawen violated
that neutrality, capturing two of the ships and destroying the other
two.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lagos>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1590:
John White, governor of the Roanoke Colony, the first English
settlement in North America (located in present-day North Carolina),
returned after a three-year absence to find it deserted (depicted).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Colony>
1940:
Second World War: During the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe
made an all-out effort to destroy RAF Fighter Command, with both sides
combined losing more aircraft on this day than at any other point during
the campaign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hardest_Day>
2017:
Two people were killed and eight others wounded when a rejected
asylum seeker went on a knife rampage in Turku, Finland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Turku_attack>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
disquisition:
1. (archaic) A methodical inquiry or investigation.
2. A lengthy, formal discourse that analyses or explains some topic;
(loosely) a dissertation or treatise.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disquisition>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The true and best way of learning any Art, is not to see a great
many Examples done by another Person, but to possess ones seIf first of
the Principles of it, and then to make them familiar, by exercising ones
self in the Practice. For it is Practice alone, that makes a Man perfect
in any thing.
--Brook Taylor
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brook_Taylor>
The Daily News was a newspaper published in Los Angeles from 1923 to
1954, founded by Cornelius Vanderbilt IV as the first of several papers
he wanted to manage. After quickly going into receivership, it was sold
to Manchester Boddy, a local businessman. Boddy was able to make the
newspaper succeed, and it remained profitable through the 1930s and
1940s, taking a mainstream Democratic perspective at a time when most
Los Angeles newspapers supported the Republican Party. The newspaper
began a steep decline in the late 1940s, continuing into the early
1950s. In the 1950 election, Boddy ran in both the Democratic and
Republican primaries for the United States Senate. He finished a distant
second in each, and lost interest in the newspaper. He sold his stake in
the paper in 1952 and publication ceased in December 1954. The business
was sold to the Chandler family, who merged it with their publication,
the Los Angeles Mirror, firing all Daily News employees without
severance pay.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illustrated_Daily_News>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1916:
World War I: Romania signed a secret treaty with the Entente
Powers to enter the war in return for territorial concessions in
Austria-Hungary.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Bucharest_%281916%29>
1945:
The independence of Indonesia was proclaimed by Sukarno and
Mohammad Hatta, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the
Dutch Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_National_Revolution>
1977:
The Soviet nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika became the first
surface ship to reach the North Pole.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arktika_%281972_icebreaker%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fatberg:
A large accumulation of fat and discarded toiletries which clogs sewers.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fatberg>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Poems get to the point where they are stronger than you are. They
come up from some other depth and they find a place on the page. You can
never find that depth again, that same kind of authority and voice. I
might feel I would like to change something about them, but they’re
still stronger than I am and I cannot.
--Ted Hughes
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ted_Hughes>
The 2019 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker
tournament that took place from 20 April to 6 May at the Crucible
Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 43rd consecutive year the
World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible, and the 20th
and final ranking event of the 2018–19 season. The winner of the title
was Judd Trump (pictured), who defeated John Higgins 18–9 in the final
to claim his first World Championship, completing the Triple Crown.
Defending champion Mark Williams lost 9–13 to David Gilbert in the
second round. The tournament featured 100 century breaks, the highest
number ever recorded at an official snooker event. The final match alone
included 11 centuries, the most ever scored in the final of a ranking
event. Higgins compiled the highest break, a 143, in his semifinal win
over Gilbert. Shaun Murphy defeated Luo Honghao in the first round
10–0, the first whitewash at the World Championship since 1992.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_World_Snooker_Championship>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1896:
A group including George Carmack and Skookum Jim Mason
discovered gold near Dawson City, Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold
Rush.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_Gold_Rush>
1920:
The Battle of Radzymin, one of the bloodiest and most intense
battles of the Polish–Soviet War, concluded with a Polish victory.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Radzymin_%281920%29>
1946:
Widespread riots between Hindus and Muslims took place in
Calcutta as a result of the All-India Muslim League's call for an
independent Pakistan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Action_Day>
1977:
American singer and actor Elvis Presley was found dead in his
home in Memphis, Tennessee.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pie-eyed:
1. (informal, originally US) With one's eyes wide open and staring in an
expressionless manner; wide-eyed.
2. (informal, by extension) (Extremely) drunk or intoxicated.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pie-eyed>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I've been & am absurdly over-estimated. There are no supermen &
I'm quite ordinary, & will say so whatever the artistic results. In that
point I'm one of the few people who tell the truth about myself.
--T. E. Lawrence
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/T._E._Lawrence>