The Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower is a skyscraper in Brooklyn, New
York City. Designed by Halsey, McCormack & Helmer, it was constructed
from 1927 to 1929 as the new headquarters for the Williamsburgh Savings
Bank. At 41 stories and 512 feet (156 m) tall, the Williamsburgh
Savings Bank Tower was the tallest building in Brooklyn until 2009. The
bank occupied the lowest floors, while the remaining stories were rented
as offices. By the late 20th century, dentists' offices occupied much of
the structure. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
designated the tower's exterior as a city landmark in 1977 and
designated some of the interior spaces in 1996. The building's upper
stories were converted to luxury condominium apartments from 2005 to
2007, while the banking hall became an event space. Over the years,
local residents have used the building both as a clock and as a landmark
for directions, and the tower has been used as a filming location.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamsburgh_Savings_Bank_Tower>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1913:
Claudio Monteverdi's last opera, L'incoronazione di Poppea, was
performed theatrically for the first time in more than 250 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27incoronazione_di_Poppea>
1958:
After a mid-air collision with a fighter plane during a
practice exercise off Tybee Island, Georgia, a U.S. Air Force bomber
jettisoned a Mark 15 nuclear bomb, which was presumed lost.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Tybee_Island_mid-air_collision>
1985:
The mayors of Carthage and Rome signed a symbolic peace treaty
to officially end the Third Punic War, 2,134 years after it began.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Punic_War>
2019:
Pope Francis became the first pope to celebrate a papal Mass in
the Arabian Peninsula.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dreadlocks:
A hairstyle worn by Rastafarians and others in which the hair is left to
grow long, and twisted into matted strings.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dreadlocks>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We can chart our future clearly and wisely only when we know the
path which has led to the present.
--Adlai Stevenson II
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adlai_Stevenson_II>
In the 1891 English cricket season, Somerset County Cricket Club
returned to first-class cricket after a five-year absence. They competed
in the County Championship, which had been established the previous
year. Somerset began the season poorly, drawing one and losing two of
their opening three fixtures. Results improved and Somerset won five,
lost six and drew one of their County Championship matches, finishing
fifth in the table. The Somerset team predominantly consisted of amateur
batsmen, supported by two professional bowlers. Lionel Palairet led
Somerset's batting in terms of both runs and average, scoring 560 runs
at an average of 31.11; he was also the only Somerset player to score a
century during 1891. Somerset's professional bowlers, George Nichols and
Ted Tyler, along with an amateur all-rounder, Sammy Woods, did almost
all of the bowling for the county; Woods led the bowling tables with 72
wickets at an average of 17.08.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_County_Cricket_Club_in_1891>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1969:
Yasser Arafat was elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation
Organization.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat>
1974:
American newspaper heiress and socialite Patty Hearst was
kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, which she later joined, in
one of the most well-known cases of Stockholm syndrome.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patty_Hearst>
1999:
Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old immigrant from Guinea, was shot
and killed by four New York City Police Department plain-clothed
officers, prompting outrage both within and outside the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Amadou_Diallo>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
smallfolk:
(fantasy, mythology) Small humanoid creatures, such as gnomes and
halflings.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smallfolk>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All that I feared would happen has happened. We are at war all
over the world, and we are unprepared for it from either a spiritual or
a material standpoint. Fortunately, in spite of all that has been said,
the oceans are still difficult to cross; and we have the time to adjust
and prepare.
--Charles Lindbergh
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Lindbergh>
Brother Jonathan is an 1825 historical novel about the American
Revolution. Author John Neal (pictured) was considered one of America's
top novelists at the time. The story explores cross-cultural
relationships and highlights cultural diversity within the Thirteen
Colonies, stressing egalitarianism and challenging the conception of a
unified American nation. The book's sexual themes were explicit for the
period, addressing female sexual virtue and male guilt for sexual
misdeeds. Scholars praised Brother Jonathan's extensive and early use of
realism in depicting American culture and speech. It is Neal's longest
work and possibly the longest single work of American fiction until well
into the twentieth century. The editing process resulted in a number of
inconsistencies in the plot. A financial failure, it received mixed but
mostly warm reviews at the time. Readers of the twenty-first century are
generally unaware of the book, and many scholars consider it too complex
to be considered good.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Jonathan_%28novel%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1941:
Second World War: Free French and British forces (aircraft
pictured) began the Battle of Keren to capture the strategic town of
Keren in Italian East Africa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Keren>
1953:
Hundreds of native creoles known as Forros were massacred on
São Tomé Island by the colonial administration and Portuguese
landowners.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batep%C3%A1_massacre>
2023:
A freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, releasing
hazardous materials into the surrounding area.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Ohio_train_derailment>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cut the mustard:
(intransitive, idiomatic) To achieve the expected standard; to be
effective or good enough; to suffice.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cut_the_mustard>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The human soul has need of truth and of freedom of expression.
The need for truth requires that intellectual culture should be
universally accessible, and that it should be able to be acquired in an
environment neither physically remote nor psychologically alien.
--Simone Weil
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_Weil>
The snowy plover (Anarhynchus nivosus) is a small shorebird found in
much of the Americas on both coasts and inland. Inland populations are
migratory, whereas some coastal birds are resident. This plover is brown
above and white below, with a white band on the neck, a slender black
bill, and gray to black legs. Breeding males have black patches behind
the eye and on the neck. The typical call is a repeated "tu-wheet". The
bird inhabits open areas with sparse vegetation, like sandy beaches and
shores of salt or soda lakes, where it feeds on invertebrates, such as
crustaceans, worms, beetles, and flies. Males excavate multiple nest
scrapes that are advertised to females, who may be polygamous. The
species is listed as near threatened by the IUCN. The main threats are
habitat destruction due to invasive beach grasses, urban development,
and disturbance due to recreational uses of beaches. While conservation
measures have been successful locally, the global population is thought
to be in decline.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowy_plover>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1934:
The Export–Import Bank of the United States, the country's
official export credit agency, was established.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export%E2%80%93Import_Bank_of_the_United_Stat…>
1974:
The F-16 Fighting Falcon, the most numerous fixed-wing aircraft
in military service, made its first flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16_Fighting_Falcon>
2004:
Swiss tennis player Roger Federer became the top-ranked men's
singles player, a position he held for a record 237 consecutive weeks.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Federer>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pipeweed:
1. (smoking) Tobacco prepared for smoking in a pipe; also, the leaves of
herbs or other plants prepared for such use.
2. Any of a number of plants having thin and straight stems resembling
pipes, often hollow or lacking branches.
3. (specifically) The common horsetail or field horsetail (Equisetum
arvense).
4. (specifically, US) The desert trumpet (Eriogonum inflatum) which has
a straight stem with a swollen portion; formerly some Native American
tribes in the Las Vegas Valley area turned such stems into pipes for
smoking by removing the stem at the base and cutting the swollen portion
in half to serve as a bowl.
5. (obsolete)
6. The redrattle (Pedicularis flammea), a parasitic plant having hollow
stems.
7. A type of seaweed with tubelike fronds; especially the sea lettuce
(Ulva intestinalis).
8. An unidentified sessile marine invertebrate, probably a soft coral or
sponge.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pipeweed>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When you find yourself needing the phrase "This is like Groundhog
Day" to explain how you feel, a movie has accomplished something.
--Roger Ebert
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Ebert>
Philosophy is a systematic study of fundamental questions concerning
topics like existence, reason, knowledge, value, and mind. It is a
rational and critical inquiry that reflects on its own methods and
assumptions. Major branches of philosophy are epistemology, ethics,
logic, and metaphysics. Epistemology studies what knowledge is and how
to acquire it. Ethics investigates the principles of moral conduct.
Logic is the study of correct reasoning. Metaphysics examines the most
general features of reality. Philosophical methods include analysis of
concepts and language, reliance on common sense and intuitions, use of
thought experiments, description of experience, and critical
questioning. Influential traditions are Western, Arabic–Persian,
Indian, and Chinese philosophy. Many of the sciences were part of
philosophy before they became separate disciplines. Philosophy is
relevant to diverse fields of inquiry by studying their scope and
concepts and providing an interdisciplinary perspective.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1814:
More than 1,200 people died in the most destructive recorded
eruption of Mayon in the Philippines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayon>
1979:
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile and soon led
the Iranian Revolution to overthrow the U.S.-backed Pahlavi dynasty.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhollah_Khomeini%27s_return_to_Iran>
2009:
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became the first female prime
minister of Iceland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3hanna_Sigur%C3%B0ard%C3%B3ttir>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
scourge:
1. To strike (a person, an animal, etc.) with a scourge (noun sense 1)
or whip; to flog, to whip.
2. To drive, or force (a person, an animal, etc.) to move, with or as if
with a scourge or whip.
3. (figurative)
4. To punish (a person, an animal, etc.); to chastise.
5. To cause (someone or something) persistent (and often widespread)
pain and suffering or trouble; to afflict, to torment.
6. (Scotland, agriculture) Of a crop or a farmer: to deplete the
fertility of (land or soil).
7. (weaponry, chiefly historical) A whip, often made of leather and
having multiple tails; a lash.
8. (figurative)
9. A person or thing regarded as an agent of divine punishment.
10. A source of persistent (and often widespread) pain and suffering or
trouble, such as a cruel ruler, disease, pestilence, or war.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scourge>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We don't appreciate what we have until it's gone. Freedom is like
that. It's like air. When you have it, you don't notice it.
--Boris Yeltsin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin>
Treat Myself is the third major-label studio album by American singer-
songwriter Meghan Trainor (pictured). Epic Records released it on
January 31, 2020, after delaying it for over a year while Trainor wrote
more songs. She worked with producers including Mike Sabath and Tyler
Johnson, and featured artists including Nicki Minaj and the Pussycat
Dolls. The album is a pop, doo-wop, funk, and R&B; album, with themes
such as female duality, body image, self-esteem issues, and
relationships. Trainor promoted it with public appearances and televised
performances. Treat Myself includes the singles "No Excuses", "Wave",
and "Nice to Meet Ya". Some reviewers thought the album effectively
showcased Trainor's artistic range; others criticized its production
choices and lyrical themes. It debuted at number 25 on the US
Billboard 200 and peaked within the top 40 in Australia, Canada, New
Zealand, Scotland, Spain, and Switzerland. (This article is part of a
featured topic: Meghan Trainor albums.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Meghan_Trainor_albu…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1919:
Intense rioting over labour conditions broke out in Glasgow,
Scotland, quelled only when the British government sent tanks to restore
order.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_George_Square>
1997:
Final Fantasy VII, the first video game in the Final Fantasy
franchise to use 3-D computer graphics, was released.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VII>
2007:
Emergency officials in Boston mistakenly identified LED
placards depicting characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force as IEDs,
causing a panic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Boston_Mooninite_panic>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
truant:
1. An idle or lazy person; an idler.
2. (specifically) A student who is absent from school without
permission; hence (figurative), a person who shirks or wanders from
business or duty.
3. (obsolete) Synonym of sturdy beggar (“a person who was fit and able
to work, but lived as a beggar or vagrant instead”); hence, a worthless
person; a rogue, a scoundrel.
4. Shirking or wandering from business or duty; straying; hence, idle;
loitering.
5. (specifically) Of a student: absent from school without permission.
6. (obsolete) Having no real substance; unimportant, vain, worthless.
7. (intransitive) Also used with the impersonal pronoun it (dated): to
shirk or wander from business or duty; (specifically) of a student: to
be absent from school without permission; to play truant.
8. (transitive, obsolete) To idle away or waste (time).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/truant>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It's a misperception of me that I am a wild man — I wish I
still were. I'm 68 years old. The rage now is, oh, so deep it's almost
comfortable. It has even approached the point where I can live with it
philosophically. The world's not what I want it to be. But then no one
ever said I had the right to design the world.
--Norman Mailer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Norman_Mailer>
Ancient Egyptian literature was written in the Egyptian language from
Ancient Egypt's pharaonic period until the end of Roman domination.
Along with Sumerian literature, it is considered the world's earliest
literature. Writing in Ancient Egypt (sample pictured) first appeared in
the late 4th millennium BC. By the Old Kingdom, literary works included
funerary texts, epistles and letters, religious hymns and poems, and
commemorative autobiographical texts. Middle Egyptian, the spoken
language of the Middle Kingdom, became a classical language preserving a
narrative Egyptian literature during the New Kingdom, when Late Egyptian
first appeared in writing. Scribes of the New Kingdom canonized and
copied many literary texts written in Middle Egyptian, which remained
the language used for oral readings of sacred hieroglyphic texts.
Ancient Egyptian literature has been preserved on papyrus scrolls and
packets, limestone and ceramic ostraca, wooden writing boards,
monumental stone edifices, and coffins.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_literature>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1661:
Two years after his death, Oliver Cromwell's remains were
exhumed for a posthumous execution and his head was placed on a spike
above Westminster Hall in London, where it remained until 1685.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell%27s_head>
1945:
World War II: Allied forces liberated more than 500 prisoners
of war from a Japanese POW camp near Cabanatuan in the Philippines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_at_Cabanatuan>
2020:
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic to
be a public health emergency of international concern.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
softnose:
1. (firearms) Of a bullet: lacking a jacketed nose and thereby deforming
greatly on impact, causing a large amount of damage and imparting a
great deal of momentum to the target; soft-nosed.
2. (firearms, countable) A bullet of this kind; (uncountable) bullets of
this kind collectively.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/softnose>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I wish I could keep war from all Nations; but that is beyond my
power. I can at least make certain that no act of the United States
helps to produce or to promote war. I can at least make clear that the
conscience of America revolts against war and that any Nation which
provokes war forfeits the sympathy of the people of the United States.
--Franklin D. Roosevelt
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt>
Angel Reese (born 2002) is an American college basketball player for the
Louisiana State University Tigers (LSU) of the Southeastern Conference
(SEC). At Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore, Maryland, she was ranked
the number two player nationally in the class of 2020 by ESPN. Reese
joined the Maryland Terrapins as the highest-ranked recruit in program
history, and was named a third-team All-American by the Associated Press
as a sophomore. In her junior season, Reese transferred to LSU and was a
unanimous first-team All-American selection. She led LSU to its first
national championship, where she was Most Outstanding Player. Reese set
the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) single-season record
in double-doubles and the SEC single-season record in rebounds. At the
international level, Reese helped the United States win a silver medal
at the 2023 FIBA Women's AmeriCup. She is estimated to be one of the top
earners among college athletes from name, image and likeness deals.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Reese>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1967:
The Mantra-Rock Dance (poster pictured), called the "ultimate
high" of the hippie era, took place in San Francisco, featuring Swami
Bhaktivedanta, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, and Allen Ginsberg.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantra-Rock_Dance>
1991:
The first major ground engagement of the Gulf War began with
the Iraqi invasion of Khafji, Saudi Arabia, recaptured three days later
by Coalition forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Khafji>
2013:
Twenty-one people died when SCAT Airlines Flight 760 crashed
near Almaty, Kazakhstan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCAT_Airlines_Flight_760>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
beauty sleep:
1. (uncountable) Originally, sleep taken before midnight, on the belief
that early sleep hours conduce to beauty and health; now (chiefly
humorous), sleep at any time needed by one to stay beautiful;
(countable) an instance of such sleep.
2. (uncountable, chiefly humorous) Extra sleep; also (generally), any
sleep; (countable) an instance of this; an extra nap.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beauty_sleep>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Despicable means used to achieve laudable goals render the goals
themselves despicable.
--Anton Chekhov
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov>
Nicholas Hoult (born 1989) is an English actor. He has performed in
supporting roles in big-budget mainstream productions and starring roles
in independent projects in the American and British film industries. He
made his screen debut at the age of six in the 1996 film Intimate
Relations. In 2002 he portrayed Marcus Brewer in the comedy-drama film
About a Boy, for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Movie
Award for Best Young Performer. He played Tony Stonem in the E4 teenage
drama series Skins (2007–2008), and earned a BAFTA Rising Star Award
nomination for the 2009 drama film A Single Man. Cast as the mutant Hank
McCoy in Matthew Vaughn's 2011 superhero film X-Men: First Class, he
continued the role in later instalments of the series. In 2013, Hoult
starred as a zombie in the romantic comedy Warm Bodies. He played Robert
Harley, Earl of Oxford, in the historical black comedy The Favourite
(2018) and the writer J. R. R. Tolkien in Tolkien (2019).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Hoult>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1754:
The word serendipity, derived from the Persian fairy tale The
Three Princes of Serendip, was coined by Horace Walpole in a letter to a
friend.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Walpole>
1933:
Choudhry Rahmat Ali published a pamphlet in which he called for
the creation of a Muslim state in north-western India that he termed
"Pakstan".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan_Declaration>
1964:
Three U.S. Air Force pilots aboard an unarmed T-39 Sabreliner
were killed when the aircraft was shot down over Erfurt, East Germany,
by a Soviet MiG-19.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_T-39_shootdown_incident>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
presumptive:
1. Based on presumption or conjecture; inferred, likely, presumed.
2. Often postpositive, as in heir presumptive: of an heir or heiress:
presumed to be entitled to inherit unless someone with a superior
entitlement is born.
3. (embryology) Of a cell or tissue: which has yet to differentiate, but
is presumed to develop into a particular body part.
4. Synonym of presumptuous (“making unwarranted presumptions or
assumptions, often out of arrogance or excessive self-confidence, and
thus exceeding what is appropriate or right”)
5. (often law) Chiefly in presumptive evidence: providing a reasonable
basis for a certain presumption or conclusion to be drawn.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/presumptive>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is necessary to make virtue fashionable.
--José Martí
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mart%C3%AD>
The Civil Service Rifles War Memorial is a First World War memorial
located at Somerset House in London, England. Designed by Sir Edwin
Lutyens and unveiled by Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1924, the memorial
commemorates the 1,240 members of the Prince of Wales' Own Civil Service
Rifles regiment killed in the war. The memorial takes the form of a
rectangular column surmounted by a sculpture of an urn and flanked by
painted stone flags, a feature seen in other memorials by Lutyens. A
scroll of the names of the fallen was placed inside the memorial. Those
who served in the regiment were Territorial Force reservists, drawn
largely from the British Civil Service with many staff based in Somerset
House. The memorial was initially located in the quadrangle, which had
been used by the regiment as a parade ground. It was later moved to the
riverside terrace and rededicated in 2002. Upgraded to Grade II*
listed-building status in 2015, it forms part of a national collection
of war memorials by Lutyens.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Service_Rifles_War_Memorial>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1919:
Yugoslavian troops shot at protesters advocating for the
incorporation of Maribor into the Republic of German-Austria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburg%27s_Bloody_Sunday>
1996:
Mahamane Ousmane, the first democratically elected president of
Niger, was deposed by Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara in a military
coup d'état.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahamane_Ousmane>
2011:
Astronomers documented H1504+65, a white dwarf in Ursa Minor
with the hottest surface temperature known at the time, at 200,000
kelvins (360,000 °F).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursa_Minor>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
peashooter:
1. A toy weapon consisting of a tube through which dried peas or small
objects are blown.
2. A person who uses such a device.
3. (slang) Any small or ineffective gun or weapon.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/peashooter>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
"It was much pleasanter at home," thought poor Alice, "when one
wasn't always growing larger and smaller, and being ordered about by
mice and rabbits. I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole —
and yet — and yet — it's rather curious, you know, this sort of
life! I do wonder what can have happened to me! When I used to read
fairy-tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I
am in the middle of one!"
--Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland>