The black honeyeater (Sugomel niger) is a species of bird in the
honeyeater family, Meliphagidae. The bird exhibits sexual dimorphism:
the males are black and white, while the females and immature birds are
a speckled grey-brown. The species is endemic to Australia, and ranges
widely across the arid areas of the continent, through open woodland and
shrubland. A nectar feeder, the black honeyeater has a long curved bill
to reach the base of tubular flowers such as those of the emu bush. It
also takes insects in the air, and regularly eats ash left behind at
campfires. Cup-shaped nests are built in the forks of small trees or
shrubs. The male engages in a soaring song flight in the mating season,
but contributes little to nest building or incubating the clutch of two
to three eggs. Both sexes feed and care for the young. While the
population appears to be decreasing, the black honeyeater is numerous
and widespread.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_honeyeater>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1650:
Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Covenanter forces defeated an
invading Royalist army at the Battle of Carbisdale near the village of
Culrain, Scotland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Carbisdale>
1945:
The photograph Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn was
taken after German troops withdrew to Norway on the last day of the
Second World War in Finland, ending the Lapland War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_the_Three-Country_Cairn>
2005:
The Airbus A380, the largest passenger airliner in the world,
made its maiden flight from Toulouse, France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A380>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
recrudescence:
1. The condition or state being recrudescent; the condition of something
(often undesirable) breaking out again, or re-emerging after temporary
abatement or suppression.
2. (medicine, by extension) The acute recurrence of a disease, or its
symptoms, after a period of improvement.
3. (botany) The production of a fresh shoot from a ripened spike.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/recrudescence>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Wars produce many stories of fiction, some of which are told
until they are believed to be true.
--Ulysses S. Grant
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ulysses_S._Grant>
Compulsory figures were formerly a segment of figure skating, from which
the sport derives its name. Requiring skaters to trace precise circles
while completing difficult turns and edges, these exercises made up
60 percent of the total score at most competitions around the world
until 1947. The simple figure-eight shape was executed by connecting two
circles; other figures included the three turn, the counter turn, the
rocker turn, the bracket turn, and the loop. Compulsory figures steadily
declined in importance, and in 1990 the International Skating Union
voted to discontinue them as a part of competitions. Although few
skaters continue to practice them, some skaters and coaches continue to
use them to develop alignment, core strength, body control, and
discipline. Since 2015, the World Figure Sport Society has conducted
festivals and competitions of compulsory figures, endorsed by the Ice
Skating Institute.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_figures>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1777:
American Revolutionary War: Sixteen-year-old Sybil Ludington
(statue pictured) rode forty miles (64 km) through the night to warn
militiamen under her father Henry's command that British troops were
planning to invade Danbury, Connecticut.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybil_Ludington>
1970:
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) came into
being when the WIPO Convention entered into force.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Intellectual_Property_Organization>
2007:
Controversy surrounding the relocation of the Bronze Soldier of
Tallinn, a Soviet Red Army World War II memorial in Tallinn, Estonia,
erupted into mass protests and riots.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Night>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
prozymite:
(Roman Catholicism, historical, derogatory) One who administers the
Eucharist with leavened bread, in particular a member of the Eastern
Orthodox Church.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prozymite>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our
intelligence by means of our language.
--Ludwig Wittgenstein
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein>
The Morgan Black Hours is an illuminated book of hours produced in
Bruges between 1460 and 1480. It is one of seven surviving black books
of hours, all originating from Bruges and dated to the mid- to late 15th
century. They are named for their unusual dark blueish colourisation,
achieved through the expensive process of dyeing the vellum with iron
gall ink. The Morgan Black Hours consists of 121 leaves, most containing
rows of Latin text written in Gothic minuscule script inscribed in
silver and in gold. The pages are typically dyed a deep blueish black,
with borders ornamented with flowers, foliage and grotesques. Although
considered a masterpiece of Late Gothic manuscript illumination, there
are no surviving records of its commission, but its dark tone, expense
of production, quality and rarity suggest ownership by privileged and
sophisticated members of the Burgundian court. It has been in the
collection of the Morgan Library & Museum in New York since 1912.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hours,_Morgan_MS_493>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1846:
Mexican–American War: Mexican forces defeated American troops
over the disputed border of Texas, later serving as the primary
justification for the U.S. Congress's declaration of war on Mexico.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_Affair>
1920:
At the San Remo conference, the principal Allies of World War I
passed a resolution allocating League of Nations mandates for the
administration of former Ottoman territories in the Middle East.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Remo_conference>
1960:
The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton completed the first
submerged circumnavigation of the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sandblast>
1990:
Violeta Chamorro took office as president of Nicaragua,
becoming the first female head of state in the Americas to have been
elected in her own right.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violeta_Chamorro>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
chur:
1. (New Zealand, informal) A strong voicing of agreement, approval, or
thanks: awesome!, cheers!, ta!, thanks!.
2. (New Zealand, informal) A parting salutation: bye, see you later.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chur>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The best that most of us can hope to achieve in physics is simply
to misunderstand at a deeper level.
--Wolfgang Pauli
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Pauli>
James Wood Bush (c. 1844 – 1906) was an American Union Navy sailor
of British and Native Hawaiian descent. He was among a group of more
than one hundred Native Hawaiian and Hawaii-born combatants in the Civil
War, at a time when the Kingdom of Hawaii was still an independent
nation. Enlisting in the Union Navy in 1864, Bush served as a sailor
aboard the USS Vandalia (depiction shown) and the captured Confederate
vessel USS Beauregard, which maintained the blockade of the ports of
the Confederacy. He was discharged from service in 1865 after an injury,
which developed into a chronic condition in later life. Returning to
Hawaii in 1877, he worked as a government tax collector and road
supervisor for the island of Kauai, where he settled down. After the
annexation of Hawaii to the United States, Bush was recognized for his
military service, and in 1905 was granted a government pension for the
injuries he received in the Navy.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wood_Bush>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1866:
German composer Max Bruch conducted the premiere of his first
violin concerto, which later became his most famous work.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto_No._1_%28Bruch%29>
1913:
The Woolworth Building in New York City officially opened; at
the time, it was the tallest building in the world, with a height of
792 ft (241 m).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolworth_Building>
1965:
Cold War: The Dominican Civil War broke out due to tensions
following a military coup of the democratically elected government of
President Juan Bosch two years earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Civil_War>
1990:
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched aboard STS-31 by Space
Shuttle Discovery.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
loath:
1. Averse, disinclined; reluctant, unwilling.
2. (obsolete) Angry, hostile.
3. (obsolete) Loathsome, unpleasant.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/loath>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
From all evil against which the law bars you, you should be
barred, at an infinite distance, by honour, by conscience, and nobility.
Does the law require patriotism, philanthropy, self-abnegation, public
service, purity of purpose, devotion to the needs of others who have
been placed in the world below you? The law is a great thing, —
because men are poor and weak, and bad. And it is great, because where
it exists in its strength, no tyrant can be above it. But between you
and me there should be no mention of law as the guide of conduct. Speak
to me of honour, of duty, and of nobility; and tell me what they require
of you.
--Anthony Trollope
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_Trollope>
The 1927 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Cardiff
City and Arsenal on 23 April 1927 at the Empire Stadium, the original
Wembley Stadium (pictured). With 91,206 in attendance, the final was the
showpiece match of English football's primary cup competition, the
Football Association Challenge Cup. A concert held before the game
included "Abide with Me"; singing this song before the match has since
become a cup final tradition. For the first time, the final was
broadcast on the radio by the BBC. Cardiff, one of the few Welsh teams
taking part in the cup competition, won the match 1–0; the goal was
credited to Hughie Ferguson after his shot slipped out of the hands of
Arsenal goalkeeper Dan Lewis. The victory remains the only occasion the
trophy, which was previously known as the "English Cup", has been won by
a team based outside England. Cardiff did not reach the FA Cup final
again until 2008.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1927_FA_Cup_Final>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1661:
Charles II was crowned King of England, Scotland and Ireland at
Westminster Abbey in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England>
1920:
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the country's unicameral
legislature, first met in Ankara in the midst of the Turkish War of
Independence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_National_Assembly_of_Turkey>
1954:
Batting for the Milwaukee Braves against Vic Raschi of the St.
Louis Cardinals, Hank Aaron hit the first of his 755 home runs in Major
League Baseball.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Aaron>
2010:
Arizona governor Jan Brewer signed into law the controversial
anti–illegal immigration bill SB 1070, much of which was later struck
down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_SB_1070>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Gramarye:
(literary, Arthurian, rare) The island of Britain.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gramarye>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A great while ago the world begun, With hey, ho, the wind and
the rain: But that's all one, our play is done, And we'll strive to
please you every day.
--Twelfth Night
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Twelfth_Night>
Henry Conwell (c. 1748 – 1842) was an Irish-born Catholic bishop in
the United States. After serving as a priest in Ireland for more than
four decades, he was installed as the second bishop of Philadelphia in
1819. He took up the post at an advanced age, and spent much of his time
there feuding with the lay trustees of his parishes, especially those of
St. Mary's Church in Philadelphia. When he removed and excommunicated
William Hogan, a controversial priest at St. Mary's, the parish trustees
instead rejected Conwell's authority, creating a minor schism. The two
sides partially reconciled by 1826, but the Vatican hierarchy believed
Conwell had ceded too much power to the laymen and recalled him to Rome.
Although he retained his position, he was compelled to relinquish actual
control to his coadjutor bishop, Francis Kenrick. He remained in
Philadelphia and performed some priestly duties, but for all practical
purposes no longer ran the diocese.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Conwell>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1864:
The U.S. Congress authorized the creation of a two-cent coin,
the first U.S. currency to bear the phrase "In God We Trust".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_God_We_Trust>
1915:
German forces released 168 tons of chlorine gas at the
beginning of the Second Battle of Ypres, causing thousands of casualties
among French troops.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Ypres>
1969:
British yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston completed the first
single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the world, winning the Sunday
Times Golden Globe Race.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Times_Golden_Globe_Race>
2000:
In a pre-dawn raid, U.S. federal agents seized six-year-old
Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami and returned him to
his Cuban father.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli%C3%A1n_Gonz%C3%A1lez>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
agrology:
1. (rare) A subdiscipline of agronomy (the science of utilizing animals,
plants, and soils) and of soil science which addresses the influence of
edaphic (soil-related) conditions on crop production for optimizing it.
2. (chiefly Canada) The science and art of agriculture.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/agrology>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is impossible to care for each other more or differently than
we care for the earth. This … becomes obvious enough when it is
considered that the earth is what we all have in common, that it is what
we are made of and what we live from, and that we therefore cannot
damage it without damaging those with whom we share it. But I believe it
goes farther and deeper than that. There is an uncanny resemblance
between our behavior toward each other and our behavior toward the
earth. … By some connection we do not recognize, the willingness to
exploit one becomes the willingness to exploit the other.
--Wendell Berry
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wendell_Berry>
Djaoeh Dimata (Out of Sight) is a 1948 film from what is now Indonesia,
written and directed by Andjar Asmara for the South Pacific Film
Corporation (SPFC). Starring Ratna Asmara (pictured) and Ali Joego, it
follows a woman who goes to Jakarta to find work after her husband is
blinded in an accident. She becomes a singer and achieves wide acclaim,
but eventually returns home. SPFC's first production, Djaoeh Dimata took
two to three months to film and cost almost 130,000 gulden. The first
domestically produced feature film to be released in five years, Djaoeh
Dimata received favourable reviews, although financially it was
outperformed by Roestam Sutan Palindih's Air Mata Mengalir di Tjitarum
(released soon after). The film's cast remained active in the Indonesian
film industry, some for another thirty years, and SPFC produced six more
works before closing in 1949. A copy of the film is stored at Sinematek
Indonesia.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djaoeh_Dimata>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1958:
United Airlines Flight 736 collided with a U.S. Air Force
fighter jet over southern Nevada, resulting in the deaths of all 49
people on board both aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_736>
1970:
In response to a dispute over wheat production quotas, Leonard
Casley declared his 75 km2 (29 sq mi) farm in Western Australia to be
an independent country as the Hutt River Province.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Hutt_River>
2010:
Ukraine and Russia signed the Kharkiv Pact, extending the
Russian lease on naval facilities in Crimea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharkiv_Pact>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hector:
1. (transitive) To dominate or intimidate in a blustering way; to bully,
to domineer.
2. (intransitive) To behave like a hector or bully; to bluster, to
swagger; to bully.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hector>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Beneath our feet and o'er our head Is equal warning given:
Beneath us lie the countless dead, Above us is the heaven! Death rides
on every passing breeze, And lurks in every flower; Each season has
its own disease, Its peril every hour.
--Reginald Heber
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Reginald_Heber>
Userkaf was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the founder of the Fifth
Dynasty. Before ascending the throne, he may have been a high priest of
Ra. He reigned for seven to eight years in the early 25th century BC,
during the Old Kingdom period. He built a sun temple, known as the
Nekhenre, that mainly functioned as a mortuary temple associated with
the setting sun. Rites performed in the temple were primarily concerned
with Ra's creator function and his role as father of the king. Userkaf
built a pyramid in Saqqara, close to that of Djoser, with a mortuary
temple that was much smaller than those built during the Fourth Dynasty.
Its mortuary complex was lavishly decorated with fine painted reliefs.
Little is known of Userkaf's activities beyond the construction of his
pyramid and sun temple. There may have been a military expedition to
Canaan or the Eastern Desert, and there probably were trade contacts
with the Aegean civilizations.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Userkaf>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1809:
War of the Fifth Coalition: Commanded by Napoleon, Franco-
German forces defeated a reinforced Austrian corps at the Battle of
Abensberg.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Abensberg>
1939:
Billie Holiday recorded the song "Strange Fruit", which later
became an emblem of the civil rights movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Fruit>
1968:
Pierre Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister of Canada,
succeeding Lester B. Pearson.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Trudeau>
2010:
An explosion on Deepwater Horizon, an offshore rig in the Gulf
of Mexico, resulted in the largest marine oil spill in history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
nauplius:
(zoology) A crustacean larva that has three pairs of locomotive organs
(corresponding to antennules, antennae, and mandibles), a median eye,
and little or no segmentation of the body.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nauplius>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There never was night that had no morn.
--Dinah Craik
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dinah_Craik>
The giant mouse lemurs (genus Mirza) are primates native to Madagascar,
like all other lemurs. The two described species, the northern
(pictured) and Coquerel's giant mouse lemurs, are found in the western
dry deciduous forests, Sambirano valley and Sahamalaza Peninsula. In
1870, British zoologist John Edward Gray assigned them to Mirza, but the
classification was not widely accepted until the 1990s, following the
revival of the genus by American paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall in
1982. Giant mouse lemurs weigh approximately 300 g (11 oz) and have a
long, bushy tail. They sleep in nests during the day and forage alone at
night for fruit, tree gum, insects, and small vertebrates. The northern
species has the largest testicles relative to body size of any living
primate. Predators of giant mouse lemurs include the Madagascar buzzard,
Madagascar owl, fossa, and narrow-striped mongoose. Both Mirza species
are endangered due to habitat destruction and hunting.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_mouse_lemur>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1713:
With no living male heirs, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor,
issued the Pragmatic Sanction, which allowed daughters to inherit the
Habsburg hereditary possessions.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_VI,_Holy_Roman_Emperor>
1903:
Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Kishinev, the capital of
Bessarabia Governorate, causing the death of nearly 50 Jews and focusing
worldwide attention on the persecution of Jews in Russia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kishinev_pogrom>
1984:
"Advance Australia Fair", written by Scottish-born composer
Peter Dodds McCormick, officially replaced "God Save the Queen" as
Australia's national anthem.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_Australia_Fair>
1995:
A truck bomb destroyed much of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal
Building (damage pictured) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, killing 168
people and injuring more than 680 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Bronx cheer:
(US, idiomatic) Synonym of raspberry (“a sound intended to resemble
flatulence made by blowing air out of the mouth while the tongue is
protruding from and pressed against the lips, used humorously or to
express disdain or scorn”).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Bronx_cheer>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Language is not a handmaiden to perception; it is perception; it
gives shape to what would otherwise be inert and dead. The shaping power
of language cannot be avoided. We cannot choose to distance ourselves
from it. We can only choose to employ it in one way rather than another.
--Stanley Fish
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stanley_Fish>
William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville (1392–1461), was a powerful
landowner in southwest England. Undertaking royal service, he fought in
France in the later years of the Hundred Years' War. In 1415, he joined
the English invasion of France in the retinue of Thomas, Duke of
Clarence, Henry V's brother, and fought on the Agincourt campaign. In
1437, King Henry VI granted Bonville the profitable office of steward
of the Duchy of Cornwall, passing over and enraging Bonville's powerful
neighbour Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devon. His dispute with Bonville
descended into violence, and the feud continued intermittently for the
next decade. In 1453, Henry became ill and entered a catatonic state for
eighteen months; Bonville generally seems to have remained loyal to the
king, although his guiding motivation was to support whoever would aid
him in his feud. In 1461, he took part on the losing side in the Second
Battle of St Albans during the Wars of the Roses and was beheaded for
it.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bonville,_1st_Baron_Bonville>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1738:
By royal decree, King Philip V established the Real Academia de
la Historia, tasked with studying the history of Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Academia_de_la_Historia>
1949:
The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 came into force, declaring
Ireland a republic and terminating its membership of the British
Commonwealth of Nations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ireland>
1958:
Controversial American poet Ezra Pound was released from
St. Elizabeths Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C., in
which he had been incarcerated for twelve years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Pound>
1980:
Robert Mugabe took the oath of office to become the first prime
minister of Zimbabwe upon the country's independence from the United
Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
footbath:
1. The act of soaking or washing the feet.
2. A small basin or bath designed for soaking or washing the feet.
3. A liquid mixture, often medicinal, for soaking or washing the feet
with.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/footbath>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no
man objected and no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever. The
objector and the rebel who raises his voice against what he believes to
be the injustice of the present and the wrongs of the past is the one
who hunches the world along.
--Clarence Darrow
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clarence_Darrow>