A Christmas Carol (1843) is a novella by Charles Dickens, illustrated by
John Leech. It recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser
who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley
and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. After their
visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man. Dickens wrote
the story during a period when the British were exploring and re-
evaluating past Christmas traditions, including carols, and newer
customs such as Christmas trees. His Christmas stories (including three
before and four after this one) were influenced by those of other
authors, including Washington Irving and Douglas William Jerrold. Parts
of the novella point out the misery that poor children often endured;
Dickens had recently witnessed appalling conditions for children working
in the Cornish tin mines. He gave 128 public readings of A Christmas
Carol, including his farewell performance in 1870, the year of his
death.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1815:
The Handel and Haydn Society, the oldest continuously
performing arts organization in the United States, made its debut at
King's Chapel in Boston.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handel_and_Haydn_Society>
1941:
Second World War: The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began
when Mark Aitchison Young, the Governor of Hong Kong, surrendered the
territory to Japan after 18 days of fierce fighting.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_occupation_of_Hong_Kong>
1968:
In Tamil Nadu, India, families of striking Dalit workers were
massacred by a gang, allegedly led by their landlords.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilvenmani_massacre>
2009:
Fire destroyed Longford's 19th-century St Mel's Cathedral,
considered the "flagship cathedral" of the Irish midlands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mel%27s_cathedral,_Longford>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Charlie Brown tree:
A Christmas tree considered unattractive and undesirable by normal
standards, often small and sparse.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Charlie_Brown_tree>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Christmas turns everything upside down. This is the central truth
of the incarnation — "Immanuel, God with us." The upside of heaven
come down to earth. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we
beheld his glory, . . . full of grace and truth." Men miss the entire
meaning of Jesus when they see in him the highest upreach of man; he is
God reaching down and making common cause with man's struggle. The
meaning of Christmas puts down the mighty things in men's minds from
their seats — place, riches, talents — and exalts the things of low
degree — humility, simplicity, and trust.
--Halford E. Luccock
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Halford_E._Luccock>
Apollo 8 (December 21–27, 1968) was the second crewed mission in the
United States Apollo space program and the first to leave low Earth
orbit, reach the Moon, orbit it, and return. The three-astronaut
crew – Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and
Lunar Module Pilot William Anders – were the first people to witness
and photograph an Earthrise (pictured) and to escape the gravity of
another celestial body. The third flight of the Saturn V rocket, the
mission was also the first human spaceflight launched from the Kennedy
Space Center, adjacent to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Apollo 8 took almost three days to travel to the Moon, and orbited it
ten times over the course of 20 hours. In orbit, the crew made a
Christmas Eve television broadcast, reading the first 10 verses from the
Book of Genesis. At the time, the broadcast was the most watched TV
program ever.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1818:
"Silent Night", a Christmas carol by Josef Mohr and Franz
Gruber, was first performed in a church in Austria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Night>
1913:
Seventy-three people were crushed to death in a stampede after
someone falsely yelled "fire" at a crowded Christmas party in Calumet,
Michigan, U.S.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Hall_disaster>
1953:
On New Zealand's North Island, at Tangiwai, a railway bridge
was damaged by a lahar and collapsed beneath a passenger train, killing
151 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangiwai_disaster>
2008:
The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, began
attacks on several villages in Haut-Uele District, Democratic Republic
of the Congo, resulting in at least 400 deaths and numerous atrocities.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Christmas_massacres>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mistletoe:
1. (countable, uncountable) Any of several hemiparasitic evergreen
plants of the order Santalales with white berries that grow in the
crowns of apple trees, oaks, and other trees, such as the European
mistletoe (Viscum album) and American mistletoe or eastern mistletoe
(Phoradendron leucarpum).
2. (uncountable) A sprig of one such plant used as a Christmas
decoration, associated with the custom that a man may kiss any woman
standing beneath it.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mistletoe>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
"God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the
waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good." And from the crew
of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and
God bless all of you — all of you on the good Earth.
--Frank Borman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frank_Borman>
Sonic Adventure is a platform game for Sega's Dreamcast. The first main
Sonic the Hedgehog game to feature 3D gameplay, it was produced by Yuji
Naka (pictured) and first released on December 23, 1998. The story
follows Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna,
Amy Rose, Big the Cat, and E-102 Gamma in their quests to stop Doctor
Robotnik from unleashing Chaos, a water-like being. Controlling one of
the six characters, players explore a series of themed levels. Sonic
Team began work on Sonic Adventure in 1997. A 60-member development team
created the game in ten months, drawing inspiration from locations in
Peru and Guatemala. The game received critical acclaim for its visuals
and gameplay. With 2.5 million copies sold by August 2006, it became the
Dreamcast's bestseller. It is recognized as an important release in both
the Sonic series and the platform genre. Sonic Adventure was ported to
other consoles, and in 2001 it was followed by Sonic Adventure 2.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_Adventure>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1876:
The Constantinople Conference opened, which resulted in
political reforms in Bosnia and the Ottoman territories with a majority
Bulgarian population.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantinople_Conference>
1938:
The first living specimen of a coelacanth (example pictured),
long believed to be extinct, was discovered in a South African
fisherman's catch.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelacanth>
1958:
The Tokyo Tower, then the world's tallest freestanding
structure at 332.5 metres (1,091 ft), opened.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Tower>
2008:
The Guinean military engineered a coup d'état, and announced
that it planned to rule the country for two years prior to a new
presidential election.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Guinean_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
parse:
1. (transitive, linguistics) To resolve (a sentence, etc.) into its
elements, pointing out the several parts of speech, and their relation
to each other by agreement or government; to analyze and describe
grammatically. [from mid 16th c.]
2. (transitive, by extension) To examine closely; to scrutinize.
3. (transitive, by extension, computing) To resolve (a string of code or
text) into its elements to determine if it conforms to a particular
grammar.
4. (transitive, by extension, computing) To split a file or other input
into pieces of data that can be easily manipulated or stored.
5. (intransitive, computing, linguistics) Of a string of code or text,
sentence, etc.: to conform to rules of grammar, to be syntactically
valid.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parse>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In the ancient days when gods played their own games, and had
their own celebrations, tossing lightning bolts between mountaintops,
hurling great boulders — Festivus came out of that. It's a holiday
that celebrates being alive at a time when it was hard to be alive.
There was no Christ yet, no Yahweh, no Buddha. There were great ruins
and raw nature. But there was a kindling spark of hope among men. They
celebrated that great thunderous storms hadn't enveloped them in the
past year, that landslides hadn't destroyed them. They made wishes that
there crops would grow in the fields, that they'd have food the next
year and the wild animals wouldn't attack and eat them. There's
something pure about Festivus, something primal, raw in the hearts of
humans.
--Jerry Stiller
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jerry_Stiller>
Alan Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British
composer, pianist, teacher and political activist. From a prosperous
middle-class background, Bush enjoyed considerable success as a student
at the Royal Academy of Music in the early 1920s. Many of his early
works took the form of settings for pageants and workers' songs and
choruses. In his maturer years he wrote symphonies, operas and other
large-scale works, which found greater acceptance in Eastern Europe
than at home, in part because of his lifelong communist convictions. In
his prewar works, Bush's music retained an essential Englishness, but
was also influenced by the avant-garde European idioms of the period.
Later he sought to simplify this style, in line with his Marxist-
inspired belief that music should be widely accessible. Bush taught
composition at the Academy for more than 50 years and was the founder
and president of the Workers' Music Association.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Bush>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1807:
In an effort to avoid engaging in the Napoleonic Wars, the
United States Congress passed the Embargo Act, forbidding American ships
from engaging in trade with foreign nations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embargo_Act_of_1807>
1968:
Cultural Revolution: The People's Daily published a piece by
Mao Zedong directing that "the intellectual youth must go to the
country, and will be educated from living in rural poverty."
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sent-down_youth>
1988:
Brazilian unionist and environmental activist Chico Mendes was
murdered at his Xapuri home.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chico_Mendes>
2008:
A dike ruptured at a waste containment area in Roane County,
Tennessee, U.S., releasing 1.1 billion US gallons (4,200,000 m3) of
coal fly ash slurry into local waterways.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston_Fossil_Plant_coal_fly_ash_slurry_spi…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
oneiromancy:
1. (uncountable, divination) Divination by the interpretation of dreams.
2. (uncountable, in a weak sense) The interpretation of dreams.
3. (countable, divination) An act of such divination or dream-
interpretation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oneiromancy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Today we hear a great deal about Organizational Men, Mass
Culture, Conformity, the Lonely Crowd, the Power Elite and its
Conspiracy of Mediocrity. We forget that the very volume of this
criticism is an indication that our society is still radically
pluralistic.
--Kenneth Rexroth
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kenneth_Rexroth>
Edmonds station in Edmonds, Washington, is an Amtrak and Sound Transit
passenger train station, with service extending to Oregon, British
Columbia, and the American Midwest. A brick building with modernist
elements, the station is adjacent to the Edmonds–Kingston ferry
terminal and a Community Transit bus station, west of the downtown area.
A single platform and a model railroad exhibit are south of the waiting
area. The building was opened by the Great Northern Railway in 1957,
replacing a 1910 depot. Great Northern merged into Burlington Northern
(later BNSF Railway) in 1970, and service to the station ceased when
Amtrak took over Burlington Northern's passenger trains in May 1971.
Service returned in July 1972 on what are now Amtrak's Cascades and
Empire Builder routes. Sound Transit began operating the Sounder North
Line to Edmonds station, between Everett and Seattle, on December 21,
2003, and rebuilt the station and transit center in 2011.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonds_station_%28Washington%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1872:
HMS Challenger sailed from Portsmouth, England, on a scientific
expedition, making many discoveries that laid the foundation of
oceanography.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenger_expedition>
1968:
Apollo 8 launched from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, placing
its crew on a trajectory to the Moon, for the first visit to another
celestial body by humans.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8>
1988:
A total of 270 people were killed when a bomb on board Pan Am
Flight 103 exploded while the plane was in flight over Lockerbie,
Scotland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_103>
1994:
Mexico's Popocatépetl volcano, dormant for 47 years, began
erupting, and is now one of the nation's most active volcanoes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popocat%C3%A9petl>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
chilly:
1. Cold enough to cause discomfort.
2. Feeling uncomfortably cold.
3. (figuratively) Distant and cool; unfriendly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chilly>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Life ought to be a struggle of desire towards adventures whose
nobility will fertilise the soul and lead to the conception of new,
glorious things.
--Rebecca West
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rebecca_West>
The Devon County War Memorial is a First World War memorial on Cathedral
Green in Exeter, the county town of Devon, in the south west of England.
It is one of fifteen War Crosses designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens to a
similar specification. The Devon County War Memorial Committee
commissioned Lutyens to design a War Cross and chose to site it at
Exeter Cathedral. Hewn from a single block of granite quarried from
Haytor on Dartmoor, it stands just to the west of the cathedral, in
alignment with the altar. The cross stands on a granite plinth, which
itself sits on three steps. After archaeological excavations in the
1970s, the area was remodelled to create a processional way between the
memorial and the cathedral. The memorial is a grade II* listed building
and is included in a national collection of Lutyens' war memorials. It
commemorates the war dead of the county of Devon; the Exeter City War
Memorial in Northernhay Gardens honours those from the city.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devon_County_War_Memorial>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1955:
Cardiff (City Hall pictured) was recognised as the capital of
Wales.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff>
1968:
The Zodiac Killer murdered the first of his five confirmed
victims in Vallejo, California, a case which remains unsolved.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_Killer>
1988:
The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances governing international
cooperation against the illegal drug trade was signed in Vienna.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_Against_Illicit_Tra…>
2007:
Pablo Picasso's Portrait of Suzanne Bloch was stolen from the
São Paulo Museum of Art and recovered about three weeks later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Suzanne_Bloch>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
leister:
(fishing) A spear armed with three or more barbed prongs for catching
fish, particularly salmon.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/leister>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I exist in the hope that these memoirs, in some manner, I know
not how, may find their way to the minds of humanity in Some Dimension,
and may stir up a race of rebels who shall refuse to be confined to
limited Dimensionality. That is the hope of my brighter moments.
--Edwin Abbott Abbott
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edwin_Abbott_Abbott>
Cyclone Althea was a severe tropical cyclone that devastated parts of
North Queensland just before Christmas during the 1971–72 Australian
region cyclone season. The fourth system and second severe tropical
cyclone of the season, Althea was one of the strongest storms ever to
affect the Townsville area. After forming near the Solomon Islands on 19
December and heading southwest across the Coral Sea, the storm reached
Category 4 on the Australian cyclone scale, peaking with 10-minute
average maximum sustained winds of 165 km/h (105 mph). At 09:00 AEST
on Christmas Eve, Althea struck the coast of Queensland near
Rollingstone, about 50 km (30 mi) north of Townsville. While moving
ashore, Althea generated wind gusts as high as 215 km/h (134 mph) that
damaged thousands of homes and destroyed many. On nearby Magnetic Island
almost all of the buildings were affected. Three people were killed, and
damage totalled A$120 million.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Althea>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1843:
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, a novella about the miser
Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation after being visited by three
Christmas ghosts, was first published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol>
1964:
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam, the ruling junta of South
Vietnam led by Nguyễn Khánh, initiated a coup, dissolving and
arresting members of the High National Council, a civilian advisory
body.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_1964_South_Vietnamese_coup>
1985:
Aeroflot Flight 101/435 was hijacked by the co-pilot and landed
in a rice field in China, where he was apprehended.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_101/435>
2016:
Andrei Karlov, Russia's ambassador to Turkey, was assassinated
at an art gallery in Ankara.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Andrei_Karlov>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
turntable:
1. A circular rotating platform.
2. (music) The circular rotating platform of a record player or a disk
jockey's console on which the record rests during play; (by extension),
a record player.
3. (rail transport, road transport) A rotating platform placed in a
circular pit, used for turning locomotives, cars, or trucks.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/turntable>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
"… I am here — the shadows of the things that would have
been, may be dispelled. They will be. I know they will!" His hands were
busy with his garments all this time; turning them inside out, putting
them on upside down, tearing them, mislaying them, making them parties
to every kind of extravagance. "I don’t know what to do!" cried
Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath; and making a perfect
Laocoön of himself with his stockings. "I am as light as a feather, I
am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. I am as giddy as
a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all
the world. …"
--A Christmas Carol
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol>
The Way I See It (2008) is the third studio album by American R&B;
singer, songwriter, and producer Raphael Saadiq (pictured), released by
Columbia Records. After independently releasing the 2004 album Ray Ray,
Saadiq continued working on other artists' projects and developed a
partnership with audio engineer Charles Brungardt, who shared the
singer's fascination with historic recording techniques and equipment.
Pursuing classic soul music, they recorded The Way I See It primarily at
Saadiq's North Hollywood studio. Their experimentation produced a
traditional soul album that draws on the Motown Sound and Philadelphia
soul styles. The lyrics mostly deal with romantic subjects. The album
was a critical success and charted steadily on the Billboard 200,
selling 282,000 copies in the United States by 2011, while also
performing well in Europe. Saadiq toured extensively in the US, Europe,
and Asia to support the album.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_I_See_It>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1898:
Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat set the first official land speed
record, averaging 63.15 km/h (39.24 mph) over 1 km (0.62 mi).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_speed_record>
1916:
The French defeated German forces around the city of Verdun-
sur-Meuse in northeast France, ending the longest and one of the
bloodiest battles in the First World War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Verdun>
1958:
The United States launched SCORE (launch vehicle pictured), the
world's first communications satellite.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCORE_%28satellite%29>
2010:
The Tunisian Revolution began, and what was initially a series
of protests with a set of demands evolved into nationwide demonstrations
that eventually toppled the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after more
than 23 years of rule.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunisian_Revolution>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dim-bulb:
Slow-witted, stupid.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dim-bulb>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heaven to earth come
down, Fix in us thy humble dwelling, All thy faithful mercies crown;
Jesu, thou art all compassion, Pure unbounded love thou art, Visit us
with thy salvation, Enter every trembling heart.
--Charles Wesley
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Wesley>
The Cuban macaw (Ara tricolor), a species of parrot, became extinct in
the late 19th century. Native to the main island of Cuba and the nearby
Isla de la Juventud, this macaw had some similarities to the scarlet
macaw. No modern skeletons are known, but a few subfossil remains have
been found on Cuba. At about 45–50 centimetres (18–20 in) long, it
was one of the smallest macaws. It had a red, orange, yellow, and white
head, and a red, orange, green, brown, and blue body. It was reported to
nest in hollow trees, live in pairs or families, and feed on seeds and
fruits. It was mainly seen in the vast Zapata Swamp, where it inhabited
open terrain with scattered trees. The Cuban macaw was traded and hunted
by Amerindians, and by Europeans after their arrival in the 15th
century. The birds were brought to Europe as cagebirds, and 19 museum
skins exist today. The species had become rare by the mid-19th century
due to hunting, trade, and habitat destruction.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_macaw>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
American Civil War: Union General Ulysses S. Grant issued
General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and
Kentucky.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Order_No._11_%281862%29>
1918:
About 1,000 demonstrators marched on Government House in
Darwin, Australia, where they burnt an effigy of Administrator John
Gilruth and demanded his resignation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_rebellion>
1948:
The Finnish Security Police was established to remove communist
leadership from its predecessor, the State Police.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Security_Intelligence_Service>
1970:
Soldiers fired at workers emerging from trains in Gdynia,
Poland, beginning the government's brutal crackdown on mass anti-
communist protests across the country.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_Polish_protests>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
kiss someone's ring:
(idiomatic) To give respect or reverence to someone; to express
servitude to someone.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kiss_someone%27s_ring>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
God is the light that illuminates the darkness, even if it does
not dissolve it, and a spark of divine light is within each of us …
our species will end but the light of God will not end and at that point
it will invade all souls and it will all be in everyone.
--Pope Francis
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pope_Francis>
Interstate 470 (I-470) is a 10.63-mile-long (17.1-kilometer) auxiliary
Interstate Highway of I-70 that bypasses the city of Wheeling, West
Virginia, in the United States. It is the only auxiliary Interstate
Highway in West Virginia. The western terminus of I-470 is an
interchange with I-70 in Richland Township, Ohio. Passing southeast
through rural Belmont County, I-470 crosses the Ohio River on the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge, entering Ohio County, West Virginia,
at a complex three-level diamond interchange with concurrent highways
U.S. Route 250 and West Virginia Route 2. After turning east towards
Bethlehem, it terminates at I-70 in West Virginia near Elm Grove. The
freeway was built between 1975 and 1983. On average, between 25,500 and
37,840 vehicles use the highway daily. The West Virginia portion of
I-470 has been named the USS West Virginia Memorial Highway since
December 2000, commemorating the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_470_%28Ohio%E2%80%93West_Virginia%…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1893:
Czech composer Antonín Dvořák's New World Symphony (audio
featured) premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._9_%28Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k%29>
1918:
Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas declared the formation of the
Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, a puppet state created by Soviet
Russia to justify the Lithuanian–Soviet War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic_%281918%…>
1938:
Adolf Hitler instituted the Cross of Honour of the German
Mother as an order of merit for German mothers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Honour_of_the_German_Mother>
2014:
A hostage crisis in a Lindt chocolate café in Sydney,
Australia, came to an end when police stormed the building, killing the
perpetrator, but also one of the hostages.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Sydney_hostage_crisis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
prototype:
1. An original form or object which is a basis for other forms or
objects (particularly manufactured items), or for its generalizations
and models.
2. An early sample or model built to test a concept or process.
3. (computing) A declaration of a function that specifies the name,
return type, and parameters, but none of the body or actual code.
4. (semantics) An instance of a category or a concept that combines its
most representative attributes.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prototype>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and
discovery, it is that, in the long run — and often in the short one
— the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative.
--Arthur C. Clarke
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke>