Project Rover was a nuclear thermal rocket project that ran from 1955 to
1973. Beginning as a United States Air Force project to develop a
nuclear-powered upper stage for an intercontinental ballistic missile,
it was transferred to NASA in 1958 after the Sputnik crisis triggered
the Space Race. Nuclear reactors for Project Rover were built and tested
at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory at very low power and then
shipped to Area 25 (known as Jackass Flats) at the Nevada Test Site.
Project Rover produced two large reactors, Kiwi (pictured) and Phoebus,
and a smaller reactor, Pewee, conforming to the smaller budget available
after 1968. The reactors were fueled by highly enriched uranium, with
liquid hydrogen used as both a rocket propellant and reactor coolant.
Their efficiency was roughly double that of chemical rockets. Project
Rover was canceled in 1973, and none of the reactors developed ever
flew.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Rover>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1854:
In his apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX
proclaimed the dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception, which
holds that the Virgin Mary was conceived free of original sin.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception>
1941:
The Holocaust: The Chełmno extermination camp in occupied
Poland, the first such Nazi camp to kill Jews, began operating.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che%C5%82mno_extermination_camp>
1972:
During an aborted landing and go-around while approaching
Chicago's Midway International Airport, United Airlines Flight 553
crashed into a residential neighborhood, destroying five houses and
killing forty-five people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_553>
2009:
Bombings in Baghdad carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq
killed at least 127 people and injured at least 448 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2009_Baghdad_bombings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Mariolatry:
(Protestantism, derogatory) Adoration or veneration of the Virgin Mary
to an extent regarded as inappropriate or even idolatrous.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Mariolatry>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else.
--James Thurber
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Thurber>
Aquaria is a sidescrolling action-adventure game designed by Alec
Holowka and Derek Yu, who published it independently in 2007. The game
features the voice of Jenna Sharpe as Naija, an aquatic humanoid woman,
as she explores the underwater world of Aquaria. The gameplay focuses on
swimming, combat, and special songs that can move items, affect plants
and animals, and change Naija's physical appearance. After more than two
years of development, the game was first released in late 2007 for
Windows, followed by ports for Macintosh, Linux, iPad and Android users.
In 2009, an Aquaria soundtrack album was released. Reviews of the game
were generally positive. Critics praised the visuals, music and
atmosphere. The controls and gameplay were also lauded, while negative
critiques centered on the map system and limited variety of objectives.
The game won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the Independent Games
Festival (pictured) in March 2007.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaria_%28video_game%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1869:
American outlaw Jesse James committed his first confirmed bank
robbery in Gallatin, Missouri.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_James>
1942:
Second World War: A small unit of Royal Marines launched
Operation Frankton, in which they damaged six ships in the port of
Bordeaux in German-occupied France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Frankton>
1975:
The Indonesian military invaded East Timor under the pretext of
anti-colonialism, beginning a 25-year occupation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_occupation_of_East_Timor>
2015:
The JAXA space probe Akatsuki (artist's concept shown) entered
into orbit around Venus to study the planet's atmosphere, five years
after its first attempt failed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akatsuki_%28spacecraft%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Lessepsian:
1. (obsolete, rare) Pertaining to the French diplomat Ferdinand de
Lesseps, who designed the Suez Canal.
2. (marine biology) Of or relating to organisms that migrate from the
Red Sea to the eastern Mediterranean Sea by means of the Suez Canal.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Lessepsian>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I am persuaded to believe that God had left nations to the
liberty of setting up such governments as best pleased themselves, and
that magistrates were set up for the good of nations, not nations for
the honor and glory of magistrates.
--Algernon Sydney
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Algernon_Sydney>
Hurricane Connie was the first of three hurricanes to strike North
Carolina in 1955. It formed on August 3 in the eastern Atlantic Ocean,
and killed three people in the United States Virgin Islands while
passing nearby. Connie reached reported maximum sustained winds of
120 knots (140 mph, 220 km/h), making it a Category 4 hurricane,
before it weakened and moved ashore on August 12. It tracked north
through the Chesapeake Bay region, and was later absorbed by a cold
front over Lake Huron on August 15. The hurricane caused around
$86 million in damage, and at least 295,000 people nationwide lost
power during the storm. In North Carolina, the storm killed 27 people.
In the Chesapeake Bay, Connie capsized a boat, killing 14 people. There
were also 4 deaths in Washington, D.C., 6 deaths each in New Jersey and
Pennsylvania, 14 in New York, and 3 in Ontario. Connie was followed days
later by Hurricane Diane, which caused $700 million in flood damage.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Connie>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1847:
Mexican–American War: American and Mexican forces clashed at
the Battle of San Pasqual, a series of skirmishes near San Diego,
California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Pasqual>
1912:
The Nefertiti Bust, listed among the "Top 10 Plundered
Artifacts" by Time magazine, was found in Amarna, Egypt, before being
taken to Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nefertiti_Bust>
1989:
Claiming to be "fighting feminism", 25-year-old Marc Lépine
killed fourteen women before committing suicide at the École
Polytechnique in Montreal, Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre>
1999:
The Recording Industry Association of America filed a lawsuit
against the peer-to-peer file sharing network Napster, alleging that the
service facilitated widespread copyright infringement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
picaresque:
1. Of or pertaining to adventurers or rogues.
2. (literature) Characteristic of a genre of Spanish satiric novel
dealing with the adventures of a roguish hero.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/picaresque>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There will be and can be no rest till we admit, what cannot be
denied, that there is in man a third faculty, which I call simply the
faculty of apprehending the Infinite, not only in religion, but in all
things; a power independent of sense and reason, a power in a certain
sense contradicted by sense and reason; but yet, I suppose, a very real
power, if we see how it has held its own from the beginning of the world
— how neither sense nor reason has been able to overcome it, while it
alone is able to overcome both reason and sense.
--Max Müller
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_M%C3%BCller>
Jacobus Anthonie Meessen (5 December 1836 – 14 November 1885) was a
Dutch photographer who took more than 250 portraits and landscapes in
the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) between 1864 and 1870. He worked
as a carpenter in the Indies before returning to the Netherlands in the
early 1860s. Moving back to the colony in 1864, he documented its land
and people, working mainly in Java and Sumatra. He also photographed
Bangka, Belitung, Borneo, and Nias. When Meessen returned to the
Netherlands in 1870 he went into partnership with Abraham Vermeulen and
began disseminating his photographs. In 1871 he gave King William III
an elaborately decorated album with selected images, now kept at the
Royal Library of the Netherlands. Other photographs were published by
J. H. De Bussy in 1875 and exhibited in Paris and Amsterdam.
Collections of his albumen prints, some of which were hand-tinted or
annotated, are held in four institutions in the Netherlands.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobus_Anthonie_Meessen>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1757:
Seven Years' War: Prussian troops under Frederick the Great
defeated Austrian forces at the Battle of Leuthen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Leuthen>
1945:
Flight 19, a squadron of five U.S. naval TBF Avenger torpedo
bombers, disappeared in the area now known as the Bermuda Triangle.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_19>
1965:
The "glasnost meeting" took place in Moscow, becoming the first
demonstration in the Soviet Union after World War II and marking the
beginning of the civil rights movement in the country.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasnost_meeting>
2005:
The Civil Partnership Act came into force, granting civil
partnerships in the United Kingdom rights and responsibilities identical
to civil marriage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Partnership_Act_2004>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
agribusiness:
1. (uncountable) Business (especially big business) connected to
agriculture, either owning or operating large-scale farms, or catering
to those who do.
2. (countable) A business or group of businesses engaged in agriculture,
particularly if using modern farming techniques in the process.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/agribusiness>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am
realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.
--Walt Disney
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walt_Disney>
The Sloan–Parker House is a late-18th-century stone residence near
Junction, Hampshire County, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is
located on the Northwestern Turnpike (US 50 and WV 28) in the rural
Mill Creek valley. The original fieldstone section of the house was
erected around 1790 for Richard Sloan and his wife Charlotte Van Horn
Sloan. The Sloan family operated a successful weaving business from the
house, and their Sloan counterpanes (quilts with block-designs) became
well known in the region. In 1854 the family sold the house and 900
acres (360 ha) to the Parker family, who operated a stagecoach line on
the Moorefield and North Branch Turnpike; the journey included a stop at
the house, where the family served meals to travelers. During the Civil
War, both Union and Confederate forces visited the house, and it was
ransacked by Union troops for goods and supplies. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloan%E2%80%93Parker_House>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1872:
The American brigantine Mary Celeste (painting shown) was found
apparently abandoned under circumstances that remain unknown.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste>
1949:
Duncan Stewart, the British governor of Sarawak, was fatally
stabbed in Sibu during his first visit to the colony.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_Stewart_%28British_diplomat%29>
1980:
The English rock group Led Zeppelin officially disbanded.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin>
2006:
Six black teenagers assaulted a white student in Jena,
Louisiana; the subsequent court cases became a cause célèbre for
perceived racial injustice in the U.S.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_Six>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
status symbol:
A visible possession that is a sign of one's personal wealth or social
status.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/status_symbol>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from
insufficient premises.
--Samuel Butler
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler_%28novelist%29>
The 2005 ACC Championship Game was the inaugural contest of the game
held to decide the winner of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)
championship in American college football. Held December 3 at
Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, between the
Virginia Tech Hokies and the Florida State Seminoles, the game was the
final contest of the regular season for the two teams. Florida State and
Virginia Tech had previously played in the 2000 National Championship
Game. In 2004 Virginia Tech had won the last ACC Championship to be
awarded without playing a championship game at the end of the season. In
the 2005 season Tech lost only one regular season conference game, to
the fifth-ranked Miami Hurricanes, and won the Coastal Division title.
Florida State earned a bid to the ACC Championship Game by fighting
through an Atlantic Division schedule that included several nationally
ranked teams. Florida State won the game 27–22.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_ACC_Championship_Game>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1910:
Freda Du Faur became the first woman to climb Mount Cook, the
highest peak in New Zealand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freda_Du_Faur>
1959:
The current flag of Singapore was adopted, six months after the
island became self-governing within the British Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Singapore>
1979:
As per the results of a two-day referendum, the current
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran was adopted.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_1979_Iranian_constitutional_referend…>
2009:
A suicide bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia, killed 25 people,
including three ministers of the Transitional Federal Government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Hotel_Shamo_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
confusedly:
In a confused manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/confusedly>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I remember my youth and the feeling that will never come back any
more — the feeling that I could last for ever, outlast the sea, the
earth, and all men; the deceitful feeling that lures us on to joys, to
perils, to love, to vain effort — to death; the triumphant conviction
of strength, the heat of life in the handful of dust, the glow in the
heart that with every year grows dim, grows cold, grows small, and
expires — and expires, too soon — too soon before life itself.
--Joseph Conrad
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Conrad>
Chesapeake was a 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the
United States Navy. She was one of the original six frigates authorized
by the Naval Act of 1794 and designed by Joshua Humphreys as the young
navy's capital ships. Launched at the Gosport Navy Yard on 2 December
1799, Chesapeake began her career during the Quasi-War with France and
saw service in the First Barbary War. On 22 June 1807 she was fired upon
by HMS Leopard of the Royal Navy for refusing to allow a search for
deserters. Chesapeake's commanding officer, James Barron, was court-
martialed, and the United States instituted the Embargo Act of 1807
against Great Britain. The Chesapeake–Leopard affair and the Embargo
Act were two of the precipitating factors that led to the War of 1812.
Chesapeake captured five British merchant ships early in the war before
being taken by HMS Shannon. Her timbers, sold in 1819, are now part of
the Chesapeake Mill in Wickham, England.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Chesapeake_%281799%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1852:
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte established the Second French Empire,
declaring himself Emperor of the French as Napoleon III.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III>
1950:
Korean War: With the conclusion of the Battle of the
Ch'ongch'on River, the Chinese army expelled UN forces from North Korea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Ch%27ongch%27on_River>
1989:
The Malayan Communist Party and the Malaysian government signed
a peace accord to end the 21-year Communist insurgency.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_insurgency_in_Malaysia_%281968%E2%8…>
2001:
Less than two months after disclosing accounting violations,
Texas-based energy firm Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy,
evaporating nearly $11 billion in shareholder wealth.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron_scandal>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
PEBCAK:
(computing, humorous, also attributively) Chiefly used by technical
support helpdesk staff: a problem experienced with a user's computer
that is due to user error.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/PEBCAK>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Congress should act to make sure no one on a no-fly list is able
to buy a gun. What could possibly be the argument for allowing a
terrorist suspect to buy a semi-automatic weapon? This is a matter of
national security. We also need to make it harder for people to buy
powerful assault weapons like the ones that were used in San Bernardino.
I know there are some who reject any gun safety measures. But the fact
is that our intelligence and law enforcement agencies — no matter how
effective they are — cannot identify every would-be mass shooter,
whether that individual is motivated by ISIL or some other hateful
ideology. What we can do — and must do — is make it harder for them
to kill.
--Barack Obama
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>
Banksia marginata, the silver banksia, is a species of tree or woody
shrub found throughout much of southeastern Australia. It ranges from
the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia to north of Armidale, New South
Wales, and across Tasmania and the islands of Bass Strait. It grows in
various habitats, including Eucalyptus forest, scrub, heathland and
moorland. B. marginata varies widely in habit, ranging from a small
shrub, 20 cm (7.9 in) high, to a large tree, 12 m (40 ft) tall. Its
narrow leaves are linear. Its yellow flower spikes appear in late
summer, eventually fading to brown and then grey and developing woody
follicles bearing the winged seeds. Many species of bird, in particular
honeyeaters, forage at the flower spikes, as do native and European
honeybees. Although the silver banksia has been used for timber, it is
most commonly seen as a garden plant, with dwarf forms being
commercially propagated and sold.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksia_marginata>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1923:
The Gleno Dam in the Italian province of Bergamo failed due to
poor workmanship, flooding the downstream valley and killing at least
356 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleno_Dam>
1959:
Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty, the first arms
control agreement established during the Cold War, banning military
activity in the Antarctic and setting the continent aside as a
scientific preserve.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Treaty_System>
1966:
The first Gävle goat, a Swedish Yule goat tradition, was
constructed in Gävle and then burned to the ground on New Year's Eve.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A4vle_goat>
1991:
More than 92 percent of Ukrainian voters approved their
country's independence as declared on 24 August.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Ukrainian_independence_referendum>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tip of the iceberg:
(idiomatic) A small indication of a larger possibility; the first part
encountered of a problem that is much bigger than it seems.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tip_of_the_iceberg>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Nothing is simpler than to kill a man; the difficulties arise in
attempting to avoid the consequences.
--Too Many Cooks
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nero_Wolfe#Too_Many_Cooks>
Jean-François-Marie de Surville (1717–1770) was a merchant captain
with the French East India Company who commanded a voyage of exploration
to the Pacific in 1769 and 1770. Born in Brittany, France, Surville
joined the company when he was 10 years old. For the next several years,
he sailed on voyages in Indian and Chinese waters. In 1740, he joined
the French Navy. He fought in the War of the Austrian Succession and the
Seven Years' War, twice becoming a prisoner of war. In 1769, in command
of Saint Jean-Baptiste, he sailed from India on an expedition to the
Pacific looking for trading opportunities. He explored the seas around
the Solomon Islands and anchored in December at Doubtless Bay, New
Zealand (commemorative plaque pictured). Part of his route around New
Zealand overlapped that of James Cook in Endeavour, who had preceded him
by only a few days. Three months later, Surville drowned off the coast
of Peru while seeking help for his scurvy-afflicted crew.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois-Marie_de_Surville>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1853:
Crimean War: Russian warships led by Pavel Nakhimov destroyed
an Ottoman fleet of frigates at the Battle of Sinop, prompting France
and Britain to enter the war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sinop>
1953:
Mutesa II, Kabaka of Buganda, was temporarily deposed and
exiled to London by Andrew Cohen, the British governor of Uganda.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabaka_crisis>
1979:
The Wall (performance pictured), a rock opera and concept album
by the English band Pink Floyd, was first released.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall>
1999:
Marconi Electronic Systems and British Aerospace merged to form
BAE Systems, one of the world's largest defence companies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAE_Systems>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
laird:
1. (chiefly Scotland) The owner of a Scottish estate; a member of the
landed gentry, a landowner.
2. (chiefly Scotland, historical) Often in the form Laird of, followed
by a patronymic: a Scottish clan chief.
3. (transitive, Scotland) Chiefly as laird it over: to behave like a
laird, particularly to act haughtily or to domineer; to lord (it over).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/laird>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them
not ashamed.
--Jonathan Swift
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swift>
Raymond Robert Emery (1982–2018) was a Canadian ice hockey goaltender
who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 11 seasons. Chosen
99th overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, he
helped them reach the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, the first appearance in
the finals by the modern Senators. With Emery, the Chicago Blackhawks
won the 2013 Stanley Cup championship. He won, among numerous other
awards and accolades, the William M. Jennings Trophy in April 2013 along
with teammate Corey Crawford for giving up the fewest goals in the
season. Emery finished the 2012–13 season with 1.94 goals against
average and a 0.922 save percentage. His 17 wins included 12 straight to
start the year, the best such streak in NHL history. He was a two-time
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy finalist for his dedication and
perseverance. His teammates and fans often referred to him as "Razor" or
"Sugar Ray" for his aggressive playing style..
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Masterton_Memorial_Trophy>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1807:
Peninsular War: Maria I of Portugal, the Braganza royal family
and its court of nearly 15,000 people departed Lisbon for the colony of
Brazil just days before French forces invaded the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfer_of_the_Portuguese_court_to_Brazil>
1890:
The National Diet of Japan (pictured in session), a bicameral
legislature modelled after both the German Reichstag and the British
Westminster system, first met in Tokyo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Diet>
1963:
Five minutes after taking off from Montreal, Trans-Canada Air
Lines Flight 831 crashed in bad weather, killing all 118 people on
board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Canada_Air_Lines_Flight_831>
2007:
During their trial for the 2003 Oakwood mutiny, Philippine
soldiers led by Senator Antonio Trillanes mutinied and seized a
conference room in The Peninsula Manila hotel in Makati.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_Peninsula_siege>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
endow:
1. (transitive, archaic or obsolete) To provide with a dower (“the
portion that a widow receives from her deceased husband's property”) or
a dowry (“property given to a bride”).
2. (transitive) To give property to (someone) as a gift; specifically,
to provide (a person or institution) with support in the form of a
permanent fund of money or other benefits.
3. (transitive) Followed by with, or rarely by of: to enrich or furnish
with some faculty or quality.
4. (transitive) Usually in the passive: to naturally furnish (with
something).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/endow>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world
can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for
another world.
--C. S. Lewis
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis>