Roxy Ann Peak is a 3,576-foot-tall (1,090Â m) mountain in the Western
Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Oregon. Composed of several geologic
layers, the peak is mostly of volcanic origin and dates roughly to the
early Oligocene, 30–35 million years ago. It is primarily covered by
oak savanna and open grassland on its lower slopes, and mixed coniferous
forest on its upper slopes and summit. Despite the peak's relatively
small topographic prominence of 753 feet (230Â m), it rises 2,200 feet
(670Â m) above Medford and is the city's most important open space
reserve and recreational resource. Roxy Ann Peak was originally settled
8,000 to 10,000Â years ago by ancestors of the native Latgawa tribe. In
the early 1850s, a sudden influx of non-indigenous settlers led to the
Rogue River Wars. The peak was named after one of its first landowners,
Roxy Ann Bowen, in the late 1850s. In 1937, the 1,740-acre (700Â ha)
Prescott Park was created on the peak's upper slopes and summit.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxy_Ann_Peak>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1724:
Philip V, the first Bourbon ruler of Spain, abdicated in favor
of his eldest son Louis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_V_of_Spain>
1907:
A 6.5 Mw earthquake struck Kingston, Jamaica, resulting in at
least 800 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1907_Kingston_earthquake>
1939:
Norway claimed Queen Maud Land in Antarctica as a dependent
territory.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Maud_Land>
1969:
A major fire and series of explosions broke out aboard the U.S.
Navy aircraft carrier USSÂ Enterprise, killing 28 sailors, injuring 314,
and destroying 15 aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_fire>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
darkly:
1. With a dark appearance.
2. Faintly seen in the dark.
3. (figuratively) In a morbid manner; morbidly, sinisterly.
4. (figuratively) Mysteriously; forebodingly, ominously.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/darkly>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Affirmation of the world, which means affirmation of the will-to-
live that manifests itself around me, is only possible if I devote
myself to other life. From an inner necessity, I exert myself in
producing values and practising ethics in the world and on the world
even though I do not understand the meaning of the world. For in world-
and life-affirmation and in ethics I carry out the will of the universal
will-to-live which reveals itself in me. I live my life in God, in the
mysterious divine personality which I do not know as such in the world,
but only experience as mysterious Will within myself. Rational thinking
which is free from assumptions ends therefore in mysticism. Â
--Albert Schweitzer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Schweitzer>
American science fiction and fantasy magazines flourished from the mid-
1920s to the 1940s. The first magazine to focus on fantasy and horror
was Weird Tales, launched in 1923, which established itself as the
leading weird fiction magazine over the next two decades, with regular
contributors such as H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E.
Howard. In 1926 Hugo Gernsback's Amazing Stories appeared (pictured),
running only science fiction. Its letters column, which often provided
contact information, marked the beginning of organized science fiction
fandom. Astounding Stories of Super-Science, founded in 1930, became the
leading magazine in its genre, publishing early classics such as Murray
Leinster's "Sidewise in Time". John W. Campbell took over as editor in
1937 and ran works by Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and A. E. van
Vogt. Only eight science fiction and fantasy magazines survived World
War II, with all but Astounding still in pulp magazine format.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_US_science_fiction_and_fantasy_mag…>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1787:
German-born British astronomer William Herschel discovered two
Uranian moons, later named by his son as Oberon and Titania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titania_%28moon%29>
1923:
Troops from France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr to force the
German Weimar Republic to pay its reparations in the aftermath of World
War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Ruhr>
1964:
In a landmark report, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued
the warning that smoking may be hazardous to people's health, concluding
that it has a causative role in lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, and
other illnesses.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_and_Health:_Report_of_the_Advisory_Co…>
2003:
After Chicago police detective Jon Burge was discovered to have
forced confessions from more than 200 suspects, Governor of Illinois
George Ryan commuted the death sentences of 167 prisoners and pardoned 4
more.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Ryan>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
blotto:
(informal) (Very) drunk or intoxicated.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blotto>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Not the individual man nor a single generation by its own power
can erect the bridge that leads to God. Faith is the achievement of many
generations, and effort accumulated over many centuries. … There is a
collective memory of God in the human spirit, and it is this memory
which is the main source of our faith. Â
--Abraham Joshua Heschel
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Joshua_Heschel>
The Walking Liberty half dollar is a silver 50-cent piece that was
designed by Adolph A. Weinman and issued by the United States Mint from
1916 to 1947. In 1915, the new Mint director, Robert W. Woolley,
incorrectly believed that he was not only allowed but required by law to
retire coin designs that had been in use for 25 years. He began
replacing the Barber coinage: dimes, quarters and half dollars bearing
similar designs, first struck in 1892 by long-time Mint Engraver Charles
E. Barber. Weinman's design of Liberty striding towards the Sun for the
half dollar proved difficult to perfect, and it never struck well, which
may have been a factor in its replacement by the Franklin half dollar
beginning in 1948. Nevertheless, art historian Cornelius Vermeule
considered the piece to be among the most beautiful US coins. Since
1986, a modification of Weinman's obverse design has been used for the
American Silver Eagle, and the half dollar was issued in gold for its
centennial in 2016.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walking_Liberty_half_dollar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1857:
A 7.9 Mw earthquake ruptured part of the San Andreas Fault in
California and was felt as far east as Las Vegas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1857_Fort_Tejon_earthquake>
1917:
First World War: Troops of the British Empire defeated Ottoman
forces at the Battle of Rafa on the Sinai–Palestine border in present-
day Rafah.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rafa>
1981:
U.S. Representative Raymond Lederer was convicted of bribery
and conspiracy for his role in the Abscam scandal, but continued to
serve his term for three more months.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Lederer>
1992:
Radio astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail announced
the discovery of two planets orbiting the pulsar PSRÂ B1257+12, the
first definitive detection of exoplanets.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoplanet>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cryptodepression:
(geography, limnology) The portion of a lake which lies below sea level.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cryptodepression>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 The fact that we are human beings is infinitely more important
than all the peculiarities that distinguish human beings from one
another; it is never the given that confers superiorities: "virtue", as
the ancients called it, is defined at the level of "that which depends
on us". In both sexes is played out the same drama of the flesh and the
spirit, of finitude and transcendence; both are gnawed away by time and
laid in wait for by death, they have the same essential need for one
another; and they can gain from their liberty the same glory. If they
were to taste it, they would no longer be tempted to dispute fallacious
privileges, and fraternity between them could then come into existence.
Â
--Simone de Beauvoir
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir>
Ceratosaurus was a theropod dinosaur in the Late Jurassic, around 150
million years ago. This genus was first described in 1884 by American
paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh based on a nearly complete skeleton
discovered in Garden Park, Colorado, in rocks belonging to the Morrison
Formation. In 2000 and 2006, a partial specimen from the Lourinhã
Formation of Portugal was described, providing evidence for the presence
of the genus outside of North America. Ceratosaurus was a predator with
deep jaws supporting long, blade-like teeth. It had a prominent, ridge-
like horn on the midline of the snout and a pair of horns over the eyes.
The forelimbs were very short but remained fully functional, with four-
fingered hands. The tail was thick from top to bottom. It shared its
habitat with other large theropods including Torvosaurus and Allosaurus.
It may have hunted plant-eating dinosaurs or aquatic prey such as fish.
The nasal horn was probably used solely for display.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratosaurus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1735:
The opera Ariodante by George Frideric Handel was first
performed in the Covent Garden Theatre, London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariodante>
1904:
Blackstone Library, the first branch of the Chicago Public
Library system, was dedicated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone_Library>
1977:
Three bombs attributed to Armenian nationalists exploded across
Moscow, killing 7 people and injuring 37.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Moscow_bombings>
2004:
RMS Queen Mary 2, at the time the longest, widest and tallest
passenger ship ever built, was christened by her namesake's
granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Queen_Mary_2>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mind-boggling:
That causes the mind to boggle; that is beyond one's ability to
understand or figure out.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mind-boggling>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 An ancient Chinese curse runs, "May you live in interesting
times." Since the fall of the Roman Empire, there has rarely been more
interesting times than these. Whenever history becomes unstable and
destinies hang in the balance, then magicians and messiahs appear
everywhere. Our own civilization has moved into an epoch of permanent
crisis and upheaval, and we are beset with a plague of wizards. They
serve an historic purpose, for whenever a society undergoes radical
change, alternative spiritualities proliferate, and from among these a
culture will select a new world view. Â
--Peter J. Carroll
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_J._Carroll>
The Quebec Agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States
outlined terms for coordinated scientific development of nuclear energy.
It stipulated that the US and UK would pool their resources to develop
nuclear weapons, and that neither would use the weapons against another
country without mutual consent, or pass information about them to other
countries. The agreement merged the British Tube Alloys project with the
American Manhattan Project, and created the Combined Policy Committee to
control the joint project. It was signed by Winston Churchill and
Franklin D. Roosevelt on 19 August 1943 during World War II, at the
Quadrant Conference in Quebec City in Canada. Although Canada was not a
signatory, the agreement provided for a Canadian representative on the
Combined Policy Committee in view of the country's contribution. On 7
January 1948, the Quebec Agreement was superseded by a provisional
agreement allowing for limited sharing of technical information.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Agreement>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1797:
The first official Italian tricolour was adopted by the
government of the Cispadane Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Italy>
1939:
The French physicist Marguerite Perey identified francium, the
last element first discovered in nature, rather than by synthesis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francium>
1979:
The People's Army of Vietnam captured Phnom Penh, which marked
the end of large-scale fighting in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian%E2%80%93Vietnamese_War>
1989:
Representatives of Ruhollah Khomeini delivered a letter to
Mikhail Gorbachev, inviting him to consider Islam as an alternative to
communism, and predicting the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khomeini%27s_letter_to_Mikhail_Gorbachev>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
to say nothing of:
(idiomatic) An apophasis used to mention another important, usually
related, point: not taking into account, not to mention, without
considering.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/to_say_nothing_of>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Many people think that conservation is just about saving fluffy
animals – what they don’t realise is that we’re trying to prevent
the human race from committing suicide … We have declared war on the
biological world, the world that supports us … At the moment the human
race is in the position of a man sawing off the tree branch he is
sitting on. Â
--Gerald Durrell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gerald_Durrell>
Weather Machine is a lumino-kinetic bronze sculpture in the U.S. city of
Portland, Oregon, that serves as a weather beacon, displaying a daily
weather prediction at noon. The approximately 30-foot-tall (9Â m)
sculpture was installed in 1988 in the northwest corner of Pioneer
Courthouse Square. Two thousand people attended its dedication,
broadcast live nationally from the square by Today weatherman Willard
Scott. During its daily two-minute sequence, which includes a trumpet
fanfare, mist, and flashing lights, the machine displays one of three
metal symbols as a prediction for the following 24-hour period: a sun
for clear weather, a blue heron for drizzle and transitional weather, or
a dragon and mist for rainy weather. The sculpture includes two bronze
wind scoops and displays the temperature via vertical colored lights
along its stem. The air quality index is also displayed by a light
system below the stainless steel globe.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Machine>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1540:
King Henry VIII of England married Anne of Cleves, but the
marriage was annulled six months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Cleves>
1907:
Italian educator Maria Montessori opened her first school and
day-care centre for working-class children in Rome, employing the
philosophy of education that now bears her name.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Montessori>
1960:
National Airlines Flight 2511, traveling from New York City to
Miami, exploded in midair due to a bomb placed by an unknown party,
resulting in the deaths of all 34 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Airlines_Flight_2511>
1977:
The record label EMI ended its contract with the English punk
rock band Sex Pistols in response to its members' disruptive behaviour
at Heathrow Airport two days earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_Pistols>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Slavi:
The Russian Orthodox Christmas, which is celebrated from January 6
through 13 in outstate Alaska, USA, wherever there is a sizable Russian
Orthodox population.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Slavi>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Through the myth it creates, propaganda imposes a complete range
of intuitive knowledge, susceptible of only one interpretation, unique
and one-sided, and precluding any divergence. This myth becomes so
powerful that it invades every arena of consciousness, leaving no
faculty or motivation intact. It stimulates in the individual a feeling
of exclusiveness, and produces a biased attitude. Â
--Jacques Ellul
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jacques_Ellul>
Bradley Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American actor and producer.
He has been nominated for a Tony Award, four Academy Awards, and two
Grammy Awards. In 2000 Cooper enrolled at the Actors Studio in New York
City. His career began with a guest role in the television series Sex
and the City in 1999, and he played Will Tippin in the spy-action
television show Alias (2001–2006). His breakthrough role came in the
film The Hangover (2009) and its two sequels. He portrayed a struggling
writer in Limitless and a rookie police officer in The Place Beyond the
Pines. He also had roles in the romantic comedy-drama Silver Linings
Playbook, the black comedy crime film American Hustle, and the biopic
American Sniper. In 2014 he portrayed Joseph Merrick in a Broadway
revival of The Elephant Man, garnering a nomination for the Tony Award
for Best Actor in a Play.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Cooper>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1875:
The Palais Garnier opera house in Paris was formally
inaugurated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_Garnier>
1919:
The German Workers' Party, the forerunner to the Nazi Party,
was founded by Anton Drexler.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Workers%27_Party>
1975:
The bulk carrier Lake Illawarra struck a bridge over the River
Derwent in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, causing the deaths of seven of
the ship's crewmen and five motorists on the bridge.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasman_Bridge_disaster>
2000:
Sri Lankan politician Kumar Ponnambalam was killed in an
assassination blamed on President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumar_Ponnambalam>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
puffling:
A young puffin.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/puffling>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Children understand intuitively that the world they have been
born into is not a blessed world. Â
--Hayao Miyazaki
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki>