Nothomyrmecia, the dinosaur ant, has the most primitive body structure
among all living ants. First described by the entomologist John S. Clark
in 1934, the genus's rediscovery in Poochera, South Australia, in 1977
attracted scientists from around the world. It nests in old-growth
mallee and Eucalyptus woodlands. A medium-sized ant, Nothomyrmecia
macrops measures 9.7–11 mm (0.38–0.43 in). Mature colonies are
very small, with only 50 to 100 individuals. Workers are nocturnal,
solitary foragers, collecting arthropod prey and sweet substances such
as honeydew. The ants rely on their vision to navigate; there is no
evidence that they use chemicals to help them forage. The queen produces
just one generation of ants each year, and initially joins the workers
in foraging. Colder temperatures aid the ants by inhibiting their
competitors and predators, and climate change poses a threat. The
International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the genus as
critically endangered.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothomyrmecia>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1791:
The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution,
collectively known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights>
1943:
World War II: American and Australian forces began the Battle
of Arawe as a diversion before a larger landing at Cape Gloucester on
New Britain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arawe>
1970:
The Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 (descent vehicle pictured)
touched down on the surface of Venus, becoming the first spacecraft to
land on another planet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_7>
2013:
The South Sudanese Civil War began when three opposition
leaders voted to boycott the meeting of the National Liberation Council
in Juba.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sudanese_Civil_War>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sinew:
1. (anatomy) A cord or tendon of the body.
2. A cord or string, particularly (music) as of a musical instrument.
3. (figuratively) muscular power, muscle; nerve, nervous energy; vigor,
vigorous strength.
4. (figuratively, often in the plural) That which gives strength or in
which strength consists; a supporting factor or member; mainstay.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sinew>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The deepest pleasure in science comes from finding an
instantiation, a home, for some deeply felt, deeply held image.
--Wolfgang Pauli
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Pauli>
The drift of the Antarctic exploration vessel SY Aurora was a 312-day
ordeal during the Ross Sea section of Ernest Shackleton's expedition
between 1914 and 1917. It began when the ship broke loose from its
anchorage in McMurdo Sound during a gale. Caught in heavy pack ice,
Aurora was carried into open waters with eighteen men aboard, leaving
ten men stranded ashore with meagre provisions. With first officer
Joseph Stenhouse in command, the ship suffered severe damage, including
the loss of its rudder and anchors. It was finally freed from the ice in
March 1916 after it had drifted north of the Antarctic Circle. It was
able to reach New Zealand for repairs and resupply before returning to
Antarctica to rescue the surviving members of the shore party. Stenhouse
was removed from command by the organisers of the Ross Sea party relief
expedition, but was later appointed an Officer of the Order of the
British Empire for his service aboard the ship.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SY_Aurora%27s_drift>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
835:
In the Sweet Dew incident, Emperor Wenzong of the Tang dynasty
conspired to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang court, but the plot
was foiled.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Dew_incident>
1918:
British women were able to vote for the first time during the
1918 United Kingdom general election.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_United_Kingdom_general_election>
1948:
American physicists Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann
were awarded a patent for their cathode-ray tube amusement device, the
first interactive electronic game.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode-ray_tube_amusement_device>
2008:
During a press conference in Baghdad, Iraqi journalist
Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush,
yelling that "this is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in
Iraq".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_shoeing_incident>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
defervesce:
1. (intransitive, medicine) To experience an abatement or resolution of
fever.
2. (intransitive, figuratively) To become less agitated; to cool down.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/defervesce>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
As a country, we have been through this too many times. Whether
it is an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or
a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner
in Chicago, these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods and these children
are our children. And we’re going to have to come together and take
meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the
politics. This evening, Michelle and I will do what I know every
parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter,
and we’ll tell them that we love them, and we’ll remind each other
how deeply we love one another. But there are families in Connecticut
who cannot do that tonight, and they need all of us right now. In the
hard days to come, that community needs us to be at our best as
Americans, and I will do everything in my power as president to help,
because while nothing can fill the space of a lost child or loved one,
all of us can extend a hand to those in need, to remind them that we are
there for them, that we are praying for them, that the love they felt
for those they lost endures not just in their memories, but also in
ours.May God bless the memory of the victims and, in the words of
Scripture, heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds.
--Barack Obama
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>
Pah Wongso Pendekar Boediman (Malay for Pah Wongso the Righteous
Warrior) is a 1941 detective film from the Dutch East Indies (now
Indonesia). It follows the schoolmaster and social worker Pah Wongso as
he investigates a murder to clear his protégé's name. The first
release by Star Film, it featured camerawork by Cho' Chin Hsin and was
produced by Jo Eng Sek, who had previously produced Si Tjonat. It stars
Pah Wongso (born Louis Wijnhamer), Elly Joenara, and Mohamad Arief. The
first film of its genre to be produced in the Indies, Pah Wongso
Pendekar Boediman was made to capitalize on the popularity of Wijnhamer
and Hollywood characters such as Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto. Released in
April 1941 to popular acclaim, it had a mixed critical reception; the
reviewer Saeroen suggested that its success was entirely because of its
star's renown. Pah Wongso Tersangka, a sequel, was released later that
year, but this film may now be lost.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pah_Wongso_Pendekar_Boediman>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
American Civil War: Union forces under Ambrose Burnside
suffered severe casualties against entrenched Confederate defenders at
the Battle of Fredericksburg in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fredericksburg>
1928:
The premiere of An American in Paris, a jazz-influenced
orchestral piece by George Gershwin, took place at Carnegie Hall in New
York City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_American_in_Paris>
1960:
With Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia, out of the
country, four conspirators staged a coup attempt and installed Crown
Prince Asfaw Wossen as the new Emperor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_Ethiopian_coup_attempt>
2001:
The Parliament of India was attacked by five gunmen, resulting
in 12 deaths, including those of the perpetrators.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Indian_Parliament_attack>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
plaque:
1. (countable) Any flat, thin piece of clay, ivory, metal, etc., used
for ornament, or for painting pictures upon, as a dish, plate, slab,
etc., hung upon a wall; also, a smaller decoration worn by a person,
such as a brooch.
2. (countable) A piece of flat metal with writing on it, attached to a
building, monument, or other structure to remind people of a person or
an event.
3. (countable, biology) A clearing in a bacterial lawn caused by a
virus.
4. (countable, music) In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system: any
flat, thin musical instrument.
5. (countable, pathology) A broad patch of abnormal tissue
distinguishable from surrounding tissue, especially a broad papule
(“inflamed, irritated patch”) on the skin.
6. (countable, uncountable, pathology) An abnormal accumulation of
material in or on an organ of the body, often associated with disease.
7. (countable, uncountable, pathology) An accumulation in artery walls
made up of macrophage cells and debris containing lipids, (cholesterol
and fatty acids), calcium, and connective tissue; an atheroma.
8. (uncountable, dentistry) An accumulation of biofilm, or bacteria, on
teeth.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plaque>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Tolerance, openness and understanding towards other peoples'
cultures, social structures, values and faiths are now essential to the
very survival of an interdependent world.
--Aga Khan IV
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aga_Khan_IV>
Laurence Olivier (1907–1989) was an English actor and director who,
along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson, Peggy Ashcroft and John
Gielgud, dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also
played more than fifty roles in a long film career. In 1930 he had a
West End success in Noël Coward's Private Lives. In the 1940s, together
with Richardson and John Burrell, Olivier was the co-director of the Old
Vic, building it into a highly respected company. From 1963 to 1973 he
was the founding director of Britain's National Theatre, running a
resident company that fostered many future stars. His own parts there
included the title role in Othello (1965) and Shylock in The Merchant of
Venice (1970). Among Olivier's films are Wuthering Heights (1939),
Rebecca (1940), and a trilogy of Shakespeare films as actor-director:
Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), and Richard III (1955). His later films
included The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Sleuth (1972), Marathon Man
(1976), and The Boys from Brazil (1978).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Olivier>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1866:
England's worst mining disaster occurred when a series of
explosions caused by flammable gases ripped through the Oaks Colliery.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oaks_explosion>
1905:
In support of the December Uprising in Moscow, the Council of
Workers' Deputies of Kiev staged a mass uprising, establishing the
Shuliavka Republic in the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuliavka_Republic>
1936:
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China was
kidnapped by Marshal Zhang Xueliang, a former warlord of Manchuria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi%27an_Incident>
1988:
Three trains collided near Clapham Junction railway station in
London, killing 35 people and injuring 484 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapham_Junction_rail_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fard:
1. (transitive, archaic) To paint, as the cheeks or face.
2. (transitive, archaic) To embellish or gloss over.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fard>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Our duty is to feel what is great and love what is beautiful —
not to accept all the social conventions and the infamies they impose on
us.
--Madame Bovary
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Madame_Bovary>
Benjamin Tillman (1847–1918) was the Democratic Governor of South
Carolina from 1890 to 1894 and a United States Senator from 1895 until
his death in 1918. A white supremacist who opposed civil rights for
blacks, Tillman led a paramilitary group of Red Shirts during South
Carolina's violent 1876 election. One of his legacies was South
Carolina's 1895 constitution, which disenfranchised most of the black
majority and ensured white rule for more than half a century. On the
floor of the U.S. Senate, he frequently ridiculed blacks, and boasted of
having helped to kill them during the 1876 campaign. He was known as
"Pitchfork Ben" after he threatened to use a pitchfork to prod that "bag
of beef", President Grover Cleveland. He was the primary sponsor of the
Tillman Act (1907), the first federal campaign finance reform law, which
banned corporate contributions in federal political campaigns.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Tillman>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1899:
Second Boer War: In the Battle of Magersfontein, Boers defeated
the forces of the British Empire trying to relieve the Siege of
Kimberley.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Magersfontein>
1972:
Apollo 17 (Lunar Roving Vehicle pictured), the last Apollo
mission, landed on the Moon.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17>
1981:
Salvadoran Civil War: About 900 civilians were killed by the
Salvadoran armed forces in an anti-guerrilla campaign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Mozote_massacre>
2008:
American stockbroker Bernard Madoff was arrested and charged
with securities fraud in a $64.8 billion Ponzi scheme, the largest in
history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Madoff>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
elevenses:
(Britain, informal) A short mid-morning break taken around eleven
o'clock for a drink or light snack.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/elevenses>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In different places over the years I have had to prove that
socialism, which to many western thinkers is a sort of kingdom of
justice, was in fact full of coercion, of bureaucratic greed and
corruption and avarice, and consistent within itself that socialism
cannot be implemented without the aid of coercion. Communist propaganda
would sometimes include statements such as "we include almost all the
commandments of the Gospel in our ideology". The difference is that the
Gospel asks all this to be achieved through love, through self-
limitation, but socialism only uses coercion. This is one point.
Untouched by the breath of God, unrestricted by human conscience, both
capitalism and socialism are repulsive.
--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn>
Enrico Fermi (1901–1954) was an Italian-American physicist who was
awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics. He created the world's first
nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and is one of 16 scientists who have
elements named after them. One of the few physicists to excel in both
theoretical and experimental work, he made significant contributions to
quantum theory, statistical mechanics, and nuclear and particle physics.
He helped formulate the Fermi–Dirac statistics for particles that obey
Wolfgang Pauli's exclusion principle, called "fermions". His theory of
beta decay correctly predicted that a particle he named the "neutrino"
would be emitted along with an electron, satisfying the law of
conservation of energy. He left Italy in 1938 to escape the Italian
Racial Laws that affected his Jewish wife Laura, and emigrated to the
United States. He worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II,
but later opposed development of the hydrogen bomb on moral and
technical grounds.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Fermi>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1898:
The Spanish–American War ended with the signing of the Treaty
of Paris, with Spain recognizing the independence of Cuba; and ceding
Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico to the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_%281898%29>
1907:
During the Brown Dog affair, about 1,000 protesters marched
through London and then clashed with 400 police officers in Trafalgar
Square over the existence of a memorial for animals that had been
vivisected.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Dog_affair>
1942:
Edward Raczyński of the Polish government-in-exile issued a
note that was the first official report on the Holocaust.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raczy%C5%84ski%27s_Note>
1978:
Starring Christopher Reeve in the title role, Superman, the
first big-budget Superman film, premiered in Washington, D.C.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_%281978_film%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
deperm:
(transitive, chiefly nautical) To degauss or demagnetize; especially, to
degauss a ship by dragging a large powered electrical cable along its
side.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deperm>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal
and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the
foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Whereas
disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts
which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world
in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and
freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration
of the common people, Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be
compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against
tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the
rule of law, Whereas it is essential to promote the development of
friendly relations between nations, Whereas the peoples of the United
Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human
rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal
rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress
and better standards of life in larger freedom, Whereas Member States
have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United
Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human
rights and fundamental freedoms, Whereas a common understanding of
these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full
realization of this pledge, Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common
standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that
every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration
constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote
respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures,
national and international, to secure their universal and effective
recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States
themselves and among the peoples of territories under their
jurisdiction. Article 1. All human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and
should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this
Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social
origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction
shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or
international status of the country or territory to which a person
belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under
any other limitation of sovereignty. Article 3. Everyone has the right
to life, liberty and security of person. Article 4. No one shall be
held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be
prohibited in all their forms. Article 5. No one shall be subjected to
torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6. Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person
before the law. Article 7. All are equal before the law and are
entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All
are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation
of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
--Universal Declaration of Human Rights
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights>
Brachiosaurus (from Greek for "arm lizard") was a sauropod dinosaur that
lived in what is now North America during the Late Jurassic, about
154–153 million years ago. The genus was first described by American
paleontologist Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in the Colorado
River valley in western Colorado. Only a few other specimens of
Brachiosaurus are known to exist, making it one of the rarer sauropods
of the Morrison Formation. It was probably between 18 and 21 meters (59
and 69 ft) long; weight estimates range from 28.3 to 58 metric tons
(31.2 to 63.9 short tons). Like other sauropods, it was a large
dinosaur with a long neck and small skull; atypically, it had longer
forelimbs than hindlimbs, a steeply inclined trunk, and a proportionally
shorter tail. It was a high browser, possibly cropping or nipping
vegetation up to 9 meters (30 ft) off the ground. Brachiosaurus
appeared in the 1993 film Jurassic Park.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachiosaurus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1892:
The English association football club Newcastle United was
founded by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcastle_United_F.C.>
1948:
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Genocide
Convention, which defines genocide in legal terms and advises its
signatories to prevent and punish such actions.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_Convention>
1968:
Douglas Engelbart gave what became known as "The Mother of All
Demos", publicly debuting the computer mouse, hypertext, and the bit-
mapped graphical user interface using the oN-Line System (NLS).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos>
2008:
Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich was arrested for a number
of corruption crimes, including attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat
that was being vacated by then-President-elect Barack Obama.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Blagojevich_corruption_charges>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dame:
1. (Britain) Usually capitalized as Dame: a title equivalent to Sir for
a female knight.
2. (Britain) A matron at a school, especially Eton College.
3. (Britain, theater) In traditional pantomime: a melodramatic female
often played by a man in drag.
4. (US, dated, informal, slightly derogatory) A woman.
5. (archaic) A lady, a woman.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dame>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When knowledge is the slave of social considerations, it defines
a special class; when it serves its own ends only, it no longer does so.
There is of course a profound logic in this paradox: genuine knowledge
is egalitarian in that it allows no privileged source, testers,
messengers of Truth. It tolerates no privileged and circumscribed data.
The autonomy of knowledge is a leveller.
--Ernest Gellner
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ernest_Gellner>
Nagato was a super-dreadnought battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy,
completed in 1920 as the lead ship of her class. She carried supplies
for the survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923. The ship
briefly participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 and was the
flagship of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto during the attack on Pearl Harbor
in 1941, but did not participate in the attack itself. Apart from
picking up survivors after the Battle of Midway, the ship spent most of
the first two years of the Pacific War training in home waters. She was
attacked by American aircraft in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, but
did not fire her main armament against enemy vessels until the Battle of
Leyte Gulf in October 1944. She was lightly damaged during the battle,
but the navy was running out of fuel and did not fully repair her. The
only Japanese battleship to survive World War II, the ship was sunk in
mid-1946 by nuclear weapon tests during Operation Crossroads.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Nagato>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1880:
At an assembly of 10,000 Boers, Paul Kruger announced the
fulfilment of the decision to restore the South African Republic
government and volksraad.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kruger>
1963:
After being hit by a lightning strike while in a holding
pattern, Pan Am Flight 214 crashed near Elkton, Maryland, U.S., killing
all 81 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am_Flight_214>
1998:
The Australian Cricket Board's cover-up of Shane Warne and Mark
Waugh's involvement with bookmakers was revealed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_bookmaker_controversy>
2013:
After a fatal car accident in the Little India region of
Singapore, angry mobs of passers-by attacked the bus involved and
emergency vehicles, the first riot in the country in over 40 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Little_India_riot>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
irregardless:
(nonstandard, proscribed, sometimes humorous) Irrespective, regardless.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/irregardless>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin!
--Horace
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Horace>
Other Worlds, Universe Science Fiction, and Science Stories were three
related American magazines edited by Raymond A. Palmer. As both
publisher and editor of Other Worlds (1949–1953, 1955–1957), he
presented a wide array of science fiction, including "Enchanted Village"
by A. E. van Vogt and "Way in the Middle of the Air", later included in
Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. Science Stories (1953–1955) was
visually attractive but contained no memorable fiction. Universe Science
Fiction (also 1953–1955) was more drab but included some well-received
stories, such as Theodore Sturgeon's "The World Well Lost", which
examined homosexuality, a controversial topic for the time. The second
incarnation of Other Worlds ran Marion Zimmer Bradley's first novel,
Falcons of Narabedla, but was otherwise less successful. In 1957 Palmer
changed the focus of the magazine to UFOs, retitling it Flying Saucers
from Other Worlds. No more fiction appeared in it after the September
1957 issue.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_Worlds,_Universe_Science_Fiction,_and_S…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1904:
Comparative trials began between HMS Spiteful, the first
warship powered solely by fuel oil, and a similar Royal Navy ship
burning coal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Spiteful_%281899%29>
1936:
Australian cricketer Jack Fingleton became the first player to
score centuries in four consecutive Test innings.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Fingleton>
1988:
A 6.9 Mw earthquake struck the Spitak region of Armenia,
killing at least 25,000 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Armenian_earthquake>
1993:
A passenger murdered six people and injured nineteen others on
the Long Island Rail Road in Garden City, New York.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Long_Island_Rail_Road_shooting>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ohana:
(chiefly Hawaii) An extended Hawaiian family unit.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ohana>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The world is always full of brilliant youth which fades into grey
and embittered middle age: the first flowering takes everything. The
great men are those who have developed slowly, or who have been able to
survive the glamour of their early florescence and to go on learning
from life.
--Willa Cather
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willa_Cather>
RSPB Minsmere is a nature reserve owned and managed by the Royal Society
for the Protection of Birds at Minsmere, Suffolk, England, since 1947.
The 1,000-hectare (2,500-acre) site covers areas of reed bed, lowland
heath, acid grassland, wet grassland, woodland and shingle vegetation.
It is conserved as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Area
of Conservation, Special Protection Area and Ramsar site. It supports
bird species such as the bittern, stone-curlew, marsh harrier, nightjar
and nightingale, as well as a wide variety of other animals and plants.
The Minsmere marshes were the site of a medieval abbey and a Tudor
artillery battery. Reclaimed as farmland in the 19th century, they were
re-flooded during World War II to protect against possible invasion.
The reserve has a visitor centre and eight bird hides. Potential threats
to the site include coastal erosion and flooding or salination as
climate change causes rising sea levels.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSPB_Minsmere>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1775:
American Revolutionary War: Continental Army Colonel Henry Knox
arrived at Fort Ticonderoga in New York to arrange the transport of 60
tons of artillery that would be used to strengthen the Siege of Boston.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_train_of_artillery>
1916:
Amid the First World War and following his loss of support in
Parliament, British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith resigned.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Asquith>
1958:
Britain's first motorway, the Preston By-pass, opened to the
public.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_By-pass>
1995:
Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 56 crashed shortly after takeoff
from Nakhchivan Airport, killing 52 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan_Airlines_Flight_56>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
shrinking violet:
(idiomatic) Often in the negative form no shrinking violet: a very shy
person, who avoids contact with others if possible.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shrinking_violet>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I do not mistrust the future; I do not fear what is ahead. For
our problems are large, but our heart is larger. Our challenges are
great, but our will is greater. And if our flaws are endless, God's love
is truly boundless. Some see leadership as high drama, and the sound of
trumpets calling, and sometimes it is that. But I see history as a book
with many pages, and each day we fill a page with acts of hopefulness
and meaning. The new breeze blows, a page turns, the story unfolds. And
so today a chapter begins, a small and stately story of unity,
diversity, and generosity — shared, and written, together.
--George H. W. Bush
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_H._W._Bush>